The Indian Immigration Story
From The Peopling of Astoria, Queens
The following is a personal Interview that one of our research group members, Sunny Krishnani, had with Uncle, Rajan Jumani, who is a resident of Astoria.
The best way to learn about something, I believe, is to talk to a person who knows all about your topic
by experience. For this reason, I decided to interview my Uncle who has lived in Queens for 20 years about the Indian population in Astoria. Walking to his apartment, which is located on 42nd street and 28th avenue (right off Steinway street), I couldn’t help but notice the amount of Indians I passed. Intrigued by this, I decided to do an informal count, just on the path from the R subway located at Steinway street and Broadway, of the amount of Indians I see compared to all other nationalities. Obviously my count was only as accurate as my vision and memory, but even in that sense I was surprised with my findings in which one out of every nine people I saw was Indian. Now this might not seem like a big number to some of you, but to me, one in every nine people being Indian is very uncommon. This is mainly because I come from an area in Long Island which is predominantly Jewish-American, but still, that number would be astonishing to anyone. Even though I had lived my whole life in Jericho, I couldn’t help but feel more at home over here, even if it was just a small feeling.
Finally when I got to my Uncle’s house, I decided to start the interview. My first question was obviously when and why he decided to move specifically to Astoria. He told me that in 1988, when he was planning to come to the United States, he was very nervous and scared about moving to a new place. Thus, his first instinct was to move to a place where there would be more people like him around and where he wouldn’t feel as out of place as he would in a different area. He told me he asked around and many people, including my dad who had moved to America five years earlier, referred to Astoria. He said that he tried to find as much information as he could on Astoria and found that there was a decent sized Indian community there, the prices weren’t as high as compared to other places, and the accessibility to Manhattan and other areas was good.
Next, I asked my uncle if he was happy with what he got when he made the move from Mumbai to Astoria. His response was that initially he wasn’t as happy with his surroundings. He believed that the Indian community of which he heard of wasn’t as big as he thought it would be and this made him very anxious. But, he also stated that within a few years, the community grew very quickly. He pointed out to me that on my way over to his apartment from the subway I must have passed “about seven or eight Indian restaurants.”
After this I asked him why he thought that so many Indians moved to Astoria and his answer was pretty logical. He simply stated two points. His first point was that Astoria, and Queens in general, was always known for its religious tolerance. He told me that this simply made the choice easy for many Indians looking to move from another country or even from within the country. Secondly, he stated that once the community started to grow, Astoria became a popular place for Indians to hang out, and this made sense to me because in the 15 minutes I was there, I already felt at home.
I then asked if there were any places of worship for Hindu Indians in the area. He told me about that although there were no temples technically in Astoria, there were many in the area. There are the Hindu Temple Society and Geeta Temple in Flushing, the Satyanarayan Temple in Woodside, and the Swaminarayan Temple in Elmhurst, just to name a few. He also said that many local Indian shops and community centers served as places of gathering for prayer and discussions.
My last question to my uncle was strictly an opinion question, I asked him if he thought he would be able to live in any other part of New York. He told me that Astoria’s openness and diversity made it easy for him to assimilate into America’s culture while being able to retain his heritage. He also said that being in an area where there were other people of his community made it a more comfortable experience as well as a more pleasant one.
The Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing
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