archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, April 13, 2008: (HPI note: this long article, available at URL above, explains the experiences of Hindus who come to the USA from India on temporary workers and then end up settling here.)
The American Dream can sneak up on people. Take Naresh Bhatt and his wife, Bansri, who moved to the United States from India 15 years ago under a government visa program for highly skilled and sought-after workers. Like thousands of Indian immigrants with computer skills who’ve taken advantage of the “H-1B” program, they came as temporary workers in the Seattle area’s burgeoning high-tech sector, where companies like Microsoft were aggressively recruiting foreign nationals to fill positions in their work forces. The visa allows firms to hire such foreign workers and keep them here for up to six years, longer in some cases.
As bitter debate swirls over what do to about millions of undocumented foreign workers who often live in the shadows of American society, it’s easy to forget that we are in the midst of a whole other, legal, mass migration. Driven by hiring in high-tech fields, hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, including a huge influx of young Indians with H-1B visas such as the Bhatts, are putting down roots in a country that invited them to come — sought them out, even.
Unlike some previous generations of immigrants, the Indian workers riding this latest incoming wave aren’t interested in putting their heritage on hold, and they resist living as islands unto themselves. They’ve found that in the Puget Sound region, at least, they can escape the limbo of living between nations.
In practicing the Hindu-derived Krishna faith, the Bhatts keep a 6-foot-high gilded wooden altar in what would be their dining room. In the upper part, crowned figurines representing the boyish cow herder-god Krishna and his brother sit in bright-orange and gold robes adorned with imitation gems. The room is treated as if Krishna and his brother are real people. Every morning, the Bhatts present a lit candle, water, milk and fresh flowers to Krishna and pray to him.
Naresh is a leader at the Vedic Temple and Cultural Center, a Krishna congregation that’s been holding services and feasts at a nondescript office park in Redmond while its $3.7 million domed temple is built on the plateau, at the site of an old rambler that once served as temple. Bansri teaches Sunday school there.
For the rest of this long article, click URL above.