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Hello, my name is Linda Heeyoung Park. I’m Mini Bhattacharya. And we’re at Mr. Percy Master’s house, um, on July 7th. Ok, um, Mr.

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Master, could you tell us a little bit about your upbringing, and your childhood, your neighborhood and such? Okay. Um, well I was born in Bombay, which is now Mumbai. Um, back in 1967.

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We lived in a apartment building with many other Indian families, so I had always lots of friends and neighbors around, and it was never alone or lonely or felt, you know, like that.

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Um, my parents are Zoroastrians and I was brought up in a Zoroastrian upbringing. That meant going to our temple of—very frequently, uh meeting family

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and friends at uh, religious functions, religious ceremonies and so on. So I was quite involved in, uh, all of that. We didn’t actually have any, uh, Sunday school type religious

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teachings, it was all done at home with the parents, mainly my mother doing the religious teaching. Um, so what was India like when you were growing up, in ’67? It was a developing country, so lots

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of poverty around, but uh, my father was quite high up in the company he worked for, and so he always had um, people of his status coming over to our home or us going to other people’s homes and so on, so it was a fairly

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Westernized upbringing in the sense that we spoke English or, you know, Indian languages as necessary. We traveled around India, we traveled overseas, um, so it was uh—I

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would say it was uh, probably not quite as common for like a regular Indian, uh, to have the kind of experience and upbringing that I did when I was growing up.

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What was your schooling like? Uh, I went to school at a—at an English school run by a group of Chri—it was a Christian school run by uh monks, actually.

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It was uh—the school’s name was Don Bosco. It was actually quite a popular school, uh, in Bombay. It was recognized as one of the—one of the better schools. Uh, the teaching was all in English.

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Um, we were not allowed to speak any Indian languages while we were at school, unless we were in a—in a class for Hindi or Marathi or Gujarati or one of the other Indian languages so uh, they were quite strict about that, um, you know. We had to

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maintain decorum, we couldn’t run around the hallways. We had to walk silently, uh, when we were outside the classroom we couldn’t speak. If we had to go from one classroom to another,

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we would go in a single file, everybody very quiet and uh, you know, everyone wearing the same uniform of white shirt and blue shorts, so . It was quite an experience, very different from what I see in the American schools here.

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So how was practicing Zoroastrianism in that context? Um, well, uh, so the school basically had uh, during religious teaching—there was a period of religious teaching every day, and all the Christian boys would go off

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and learn about Christianity. And all the other—the non-Christian kids would uh, would be taught what were called morals, which is basically etiquette and protocol and how to behave and uh, things like always being honest and using—using integrity and

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having all that so, um, it wasn’t necessarily religious but it was sort of like, how to be a good citizen type of teaching is what we would get, while the other kids were learning about Christianity and you know, uh, the stuff there.

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Very interesting. So, do you have any siblings, and what were they like? Yes, I had one sibling. Uh, um, my sister was two years younger than myself. She actually ended up going to a Zoroastrian-run school.

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So, the school was open to all kids of all communities, but the teachers and the principals and so—headmistress and so on were all Zoroastrians. And so in her school, she got sort of, uh—she got the same type of teaching that I

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did, but when there was time for religious classes, she would go off and learn about our religion, while the other kids would uh, you know, kind of do the morals and etiquette learning that I used to do. So she got a bit more, um, religious upbringing

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than I did, just because of the school she was in. Mhm, and why didn’t you go to that school? That was only for girls . Oh. And my school was only for boys.

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But our schools were not too far apart, they were actually within walking distance, so uh, my parents, you know, felt it was a good school for both of us because they could drop each child off, you know, almost at the same time and

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didn’t have long commutes and so on, so that helped a lot. What about for college, where did you go for college? Uh, well for—after I, uh, was in Don Bosco uh, until roughly about the 7th grade.

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And then my father got transferred to Singapore for a couple of years, so I went there and studied in Singapore for about a year. Um, the interesting thing about Singapore was that the Singapore school year was exactly six months out of sync with the Indian school year.

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So I finished my 7th grade and I went to Singapore and I—I did the second half of their 7th grade in Singapore and then the first half of their 8th grade in Singapore, and then my father got transferred, uh, somewhere else, so I had to leave Singapore again, and at

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that point my parents thought it would be best if I studied in a boarding school, because my father was being posted around various countries in Africa at that time.

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Uh, and so I went—came back to a boarding school in India, and start—restarted my 8th grade and then uh, graduated from there. After that, I spent two years in England, studying at uh, what’s known as an English public school, which is really a private school, uh where

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you know, students pay a fairly hefty tuition, and that was sort of like a finishing school to allow me to finish off and then go off to college. And then, in 1986 I came to this country as an

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undergraduate student, uh came here and did my college here in electrical and computer engineering. Um, could you clarify what your dad did and why he was moving so much? Uh, he was a—he was uh, basically the head of the

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R&D, of the research and development unit of a stereo company. So uh, he had um—his responsibilities were uh, initially, were India only, and then expanded to all over Asia, and

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then eventually even went worldwide. So, uh, he spent a lot of time uh—spent some time in Singapore setting up the Singapore unit and so on,

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and then he had to go off to Africa to set up a unit in Nigeria and some of the other countries there. So he was traveling quite a bit, and um, because of that uh, my parents felt it would be

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better if I was in one school and stayed there, while they kept traveling and moving around. So, what was life like in Singapore? Um, it was quite regimented.

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The—it’s a very clean city, uh, but of course there’s a lot of discipline amongst the citizens, so you have to be uh, you have to behave well. I mean, I remember around the time I was there, maybe a couple of years after that, uh, an

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American teenager was caught uh, spray painting, you know, doing graffiti on some of the walls there. And he was sentenced to four canings, uh, by the authorities. And I remember that was a big issue

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here in America, because you know, people hadn’t heard of any child being caned, and so . So it was very interesting. The one thing I found about Singapore was, uh, the schools were overcrowded, so they

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would have a double-shift in school. So, my sister would go from like early morning to uh like, noon or so. And then I would go to school from like 1 to like 5 or 6 pm. And they ran schools in double-

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shift like that, which it was something I’d never heard of before, and I found that quite difficult. Actually, I liked it the first six months because I was getting up at, you know—I had to go to school at one o’clock, so I was, I was good. But next year, when I had to school at seven am, that

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was . That was not good . Um, who were your friends? Were they mostly Zoroastrians?

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Um, there was a mixture. I had a—kind of a group of Zoroastrian friends whom I hung around with at religious functions and so on, and then there was another group that was people

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from all communities and faiths that I hung around with when I wasn’t at a religious function, so- There were two kind of distinct groups, and they—we never really mixed.

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I mean, at the, uh, religious functions, I was always with my Zoroastrian friends, and then at the other functions I was with Indian friends and we were all kind of separate at that time so-

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Um, it was a good mix. I’m still in touch with some of them, so you know, we’ve had longstanding friendships and they keep going on so, glad to—glad that’s happened. Where did you attend boarding school and what was that like?

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Boarding school was in a place called Panchgani, which is a hill station, uh, a few hundred kilometers outside of Bombay, Mumbai. There were a lot of schools there.

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Uh at the time I was there, the main industry was tourism and schools, so people would come in the summer from cities like Bombay to escape the heat and so on. But, of course the schools were run year-round.

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Um, and the interesting thing of—in Panchgani was there were schools that were run by a set of Christian monks, so they had a—their own Christian school, and ours was run by a set of

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Zoroastrian brothers who had set up those schools. So we had sort of a Zoroastrian school, where we had some religious teaching and so on, but uh you know, mainly open to kids of all caste and

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uh, you know, so it was a good mixture. Life was uh, kind of regimented, but good, I mean, you had to get up at a certain time, in order to go to—go get breakfast, or you’d miss breakfast.

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Which actually wasn’t an option, because kids were counted as they came into the dining room, so if you missed a meal, you know, the headmaster would know and he would come and find out why you weren’t attending meals and so on.

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So, but—but we had three meals a day, and um, school time was essentially from nine to like four-five, followed by activities such as athletics or sports depending on whatever season it

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was. So- So what year were you in England? I was in England from uh, 1984 to 1986. What was life like in England back then?

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Um, that was actually, I found I had a lot more freedom in England than I did in the—when I was in boarding school in India. I uh—but then I also had more responsibility. I was in

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basically what was called the 6th grade, which is roughly the equivalent of the 11th and 12th grades in America. Uh, and um, because I was in that upper grade, um, I had to exercise some

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discipline over some of the younger kids, uh, who were quite a bit younger than me as well there. Um, so—and of course we always had to wear a blazer and tie and be in uniform all the time and, um, be essentially good and we’re expected to behave

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like model citizens so, it was quite regimented but it was a good experience. Um, it was an eye-opener to me, because Singapore was very different from India, but England was a lot more different from either of those

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two, so- and I learned a lot there so, that was good. One of the things that did happen in England was, when the school was shut down, I would go off and live off campus at a family’s home. I—I basically rented a little bedroom, and I stayed

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with a Zoroastrian family who uh, you know, rented their spare bedrooms uh, to people all around. And I had to do my own cooking and um, so on. So that was—that was difficult, you

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know, first time doing all that. So what were some cultural differences you noticed right away when you went to England? Um, I thought , um, England was a, uh, lot less disciplined, a lot freer than uh, the other

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places I’d been. Certainly than Singapore, for example. I also noticed, uh, people having this attitude that it was okay, for example, to let off steam, to let their hair down, which was not

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something I’d seen in Asia, either in India or Singapore. So things like, it was okay to go get drunk on a Friday or Saturday night. And uh, you’d see kids my age standing, uh, outside a pub

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and vomiting because they had drunk so much. And you know, that was kind of weird for me, it wasn’t something that I was used to, it’s different. So let’s talk about how you moved to the States.

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So, if you attended high school in England, why did you decide to come to America for college? And where did you go for college? Okay, um, main reason for coming to America was uh, I was interested in computers, and

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at that time, in 1986, the U.S. was at the forefront in computer technology. Um, so uh, that was my main reason for coming to the U.S.

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Uh, when I arrived, um, I came to a small private college called Monmouth University, which was in New Jersey. And I spent a year there. That was my initial entry into the U.S., and the reason I picked

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that was because the recruiting manager for that university had been going around the world, and he had actually met my parents when he was traveling through India onto other countries in Asia and so on. And he had sort of impressed

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upon them that a private university would be the right thing for someone like me, and uh, so on. And it was only when I—after I arrived in America and started figuring out what was going on that I realized that there were lots of good public universities as well

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that could do, you know, what I was trying to do at, uh, much less cost. So I started looking around, and uh, in the next

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two years, I went off to a university called Virginia Tech, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Virginia. Um, I’d gotten a little bit of financial aid to attend there also, so I felt good about that, and the cost itself was much lower than what my parents were

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paying for Monmouth so, I thought, why not give that a chance? And that turned out to be a good deal, because uh, that worked out quite well for me. So I graduated from Virginia Tech with my Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering,

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and uh, then I, um, had admission to North Carolina State University for Master’s in Computer Engineering. And the reason I chose that amongst all the other schools was I got full financial aid, so I didn’t

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have to pay anything for my master’s. So, off I went to North Carolina State, and I graduated from North Carolina State in 1991, and I got a job as a computer engineer at a company called

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NCR in Kansas. So, that’s where I moved, and stayed there uh, until I got married in 1997 and moved to Houston.

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So, you came into the States when you were pretty young, so what kind of dreams and visions did you have coming into the United States? Well, initially my idea was just to come and uh, do my studies, and then

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um, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do after that. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to settle here or somewhere else or return to India or anything like that.

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Um, so I didn’t really—I guess my only dream was complete my education at that time. But then as time progressed and uh, I saw my friends were going off to—and getting some good experience on summer jobs or as interns

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at companies, I started doing the same thing. And I started taking up summer jobs at uh, at companies where I could, you know, learn computer engineering and really see it being used.

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And that’s when I thought I might want to stay here and get some work experience, some valuable work experience for myself before deciding what else to

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do. Uh, once I went to work for NCR, I found that to be an extremely useful job for me. I learned a lot in the first few years I was there, and I got so good at it that we were selling our products to

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other companies, and my manager started sending me to uh, all our customers when they started getting problems. So they were, you know, if someone had a problem with one of our products, they would call our office and my manager would say, ‘We’ll send our best guy

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out,’ and that would be me. And I’d be hopping on a plane with maybe 2-3 hour notice to go off and perform some emergency work at, uh, you know, wherever it was. So I found that very challenging and

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very useful to myself. I really enjoyed that portion of my career . So going back to undergrad a little bit, what was life like in college here? Okay, um, it was uh, kind of reminded me a lot of life in

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England. It was, you know, sort of free. Everybody was doing what they kind of wanted. Uh, I was uh, I remember one of the kids taking the most number of courses or credit hours, you know, each semester.

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I would be taking like 26 credit hours or 6 or 7 courses a semester, and everyone else would be in their three or four courses because that’s the minimum they had to do to maintain their level and you know,

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people would—I guess I was kind of a nerd, honestly . You know, working hard, I was always in the computer lab. I—my part-time job was in the computer lab, my other part-time

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job was grading papers for, uh, undergrad students and so on, so kept myself really really busy and didn’t really have a lot of time uh, to play around and certainly not as much as some of my

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colleagues did . But you know, I think that’s, um, you know, that was around the time um, when there was a lot of stuff going on in the media as well about the Asian students,

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you know, always working hard and, you know, people were writing letters to Time and so on saying, ‘I went into the computer lab and all I could see were Asian students at 8 o’clock at night,’ and- yeah, so, I guess I was a part of that culture and keeping up there.

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Did you face any discrimination? Uh, no, not really. Uh, I—well I don’t think so, and not overtly. In fact, if any

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discrimination I faced, I faced in England. People would make fun of your accent and you know, stuff like that, which- uh, the British used a word called ‘Paki’ to refer to people from India or

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Pakistan, and it’s a derogatory word. And uh, the first time I was called Paki by someone, I thought, ‘Why are you calling me that? I’m not from Pakistan.’ And that’s when I realized, that

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they meant it for any Asian, any Indian or Pakistani or Bangladeshi, whatever, so—Uh, but I thought actually discrimination in America was, uh, fairly nonexistent, I didn’t really, um, you

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know, see anything along those lines. People didn’t make fun of my accent. In fact, I thought I garnered quite a bit of respect, in fact, because of uh, people recognizing me as being

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a hardworking guy and you know, people would come to me for help with their studies, even when I wasn’t in their courses, and they would ask me to do stuff for them or help them out with uh, with their learning.

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So I thought, I felt good about that. So you’ve been to different cities here in the states. Mhm. Could you tell us the differences of each city? In terms of, like, people’s attitudes?

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Honestly, um, a lot of the cities in America are fairly homogeneous. I mean, there’s—there’s really not a lot of difference I felt uh, between say, working in Wichita, Kansas

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versus working in Houston, Texas or so on. Um, I mean, um, you know everybody speaks English with approximately the same accent. You know, I can’t notice any regional differences

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in American accents like you know, maybe some—an American-born native might be able to. Um, so I thought it was all essentially the same. There’s always a Main Street in each city,

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there’s always a Broad Street in each city , uh you know, uh stuff like that, so it was- Wichita, Kansas was a smallish town, but it was actually the biggest city in Kansas. So um, you know, people thought of Wichita as kind of the urban

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center of Kansas, if you will. And it had everything that a big city could have, you know. Um, and when I came to Houston, I found Houston was just another, much bigger version of Wichita.

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Um, so you know, everything that Wichita had plus maybe ten times more, but... So did you stay with your job at… NCR through Houston? No, when I, uh, when I was- got married, I’m married a

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girl, a Zoroastrian girl, here in Houston. And, uh, at that time, I quit my job at NCR and I came to work for Compaq. Uh, NCR was actually selling stuff to Compaq, so I knew people at Compaq.

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And when I was getting ready to get married, I called some of them up, and said, ‘Hey, I’m trying to figure out if I could move to Houston. And could I get a job at Compaq?’ Compaq was the biggest IT company in

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Houston at that time. And, um, most of the people that I called knew me well, because I would come to help them out when we were—uh, you know- making our products part of Compaq, NCR products are part of Compaq products.

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So, uh, they were quite happy to uh—in fact, I know there were couple of managers who fought over getting me into the office, because each of them wanted me to work for them. So, uh, I ended up with uh- with uh- basically what it’s called as

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storage division of Compaq at that time. And I stayed in that division for—for the rest of my career, since when Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard, and became Hewlett-Packard. And I moved around in Compaq, or HP, but still stayed

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within the same division throughout these years. So, essentially, you moved to Houston to marry your wife? Correct. Yes. That was in 1997, um, so, um- just before my marriage,

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I—I resigned my position at NCR, uh, drove down to Houston with all of my belongings in my little car. And, uh, uh, I fixed up an apartment here with my fiancé at that time, uh, so I moved in there

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and after we got married, she moved in. And that was it, for a—for a few months. Then we got a house at, uh, here in Missouri City, and moved on then.

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How did you meet? We actually- we actually met, uh, basically online. Um, so, my parents were looking, uh, at finding me a wife, and uh, this was in India.

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So in India, we had, uh, few ladies who match-made, and my name was given to them, and along with my photograph and other details and so on. And- and- so, anytime I went to India on—on a vacation, um, I would go and meet these girls,

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and we try to get along, and see, you know, whether we clicked or not. Um, and one of the girls I met decided, uh, she- she was also, you know, looking around for a husband, she picks

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somebody else, but she thought I would be really good with this other friend of hers, who was in Houston. And that’s—that’s how we met. So we met online. She gave my name to her friend,

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and her friend called me up, and that's when we started talking. And uh, on my next trip to Houston, I thought and I would go in and meet her and see how it worked out. And it appeared that we clicked, so we got married a year later.

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So, um… how, uh, what was Houston like when you first came? Um, I- well- the main thing I remember about Houston was I remember it being very hot. I mean, uh, we were- we would be flying from Kansas, at you know, thirty-degree weather, and

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arrive here, you know, eighty-five degree weather. And, uh, it was it was- uh, difficult adjusting to the heat and the humidity. You know, the minute you walk out of the airplane, the

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heat hits you. So, uh, but what I liked about Houston was, uh, it was huge city. Lots of Indians, so lots of- you know- Indian shops, and temples and center. We have a Zoroastrian center here in

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Houston, which we didn’t in Kansas. And, uh, uh—the other neat thing about Houston that I really like was, uh, was the size of the Zoroastrian community, which is quite significant here in Houston.

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In Kansas- in Wichita, Kansas, I was one of, like, four people in the whole city, uh, who was a Zoroastrian. Here in Houston, of course, we have, uh, close to 800 individuals, so, uh,

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big big draw for me was the center and uh- you know- uh, being able to meet people of my faith and community and so on. How well-established was the Zoroastrian community back in

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’97? Uh, it was established quite well. There was an active association, uh, there were, um, people who were trying to build the center here, basically, uh, like a banquet hall, and a prayer room, and so on in a – in a building.

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So people were collecting money for that, and that effort was well on the way. So, um, uh, they were looking at open the center at 1998, uh, uh, so- I knew that there was active work going on, in building the temple and so

00:29:32.490 - 00:29:41.210

on. And that- that was one of the main reasons that uh, drew me to Houston. You know. And of course, uh, you know, my

00:29:41.780 - 00:29:55.710

wife-to-be was here, and her family was here, so there was a big group of individuals that I know as soon as I moved to Houston. So I felt quite good about Houston. I liked the uh, I like the

00:29:55.910 - 00:30:08.250

diversity of the place. There were lots more Hispanics here than- than in Kansas, and I’d give it a nicer flavor, if you will, to the- to the city. You know, more things to do.

00:30:08.910 - 00:30:24.890

More uh, places to visit and so on, so. Hm. So where did you first settle here in Houston? Um, in Houston- uh, basically, I got an apartment in, uh- in, uh,

00:30:25.420 - 00:30:39.550

I think it’s called the Westchase District. Uh, that’s where my new wife and I moved in, initially. And then, uh, few months later, we got a house in Missouri City, so, uh, that's where we moved, and we stayed

00:30:39.550 - 00:30:52.260

there for some time. And, then, after our, children were born, uh, I wanted to moved to a place with better school district. So we moved to Sugarland for a bit, for about a year.

00:30:53.480 - 00:31:06.060

And then, unfortunately after that HP decided to move me to Colorado, so uh, we packed up, everything sold and everything, and moved to Colorado for a year. Um, and then, uh, while we were in

00:31:06.130 - 00:31:20.600

Colorado, my job changed, and I found out I could end up working from home, if I wanted to. So I started working home in Colorado, and then we started thinking, ‘if I am already working from home, why not just move back to Houston, or to the Houston area?’

00:31:21.850 - 00:31:33.540

And, uh, that’s when we moved back to Houston. And this place is the place you came back to settle in Houston? Well- um, no. Actually no. We- we uh, moved to Katy, we stayed in Katy for a while, and

00:31:33.540 - 00:31:47.990

then things were, uh, not going too well with us, personally, so we ended up divorcing at, uh, 2006. And uh, that’s when I moved to this place. And my ex-wife, uh, decided to move, uh, just

00:31:48.170 - 00:32:00.690

a few miles away from us. So at least the kids, you know, can go to the same schools and so on and so forth. What does your ex-wife do? Uh, she’s a social worker at, uh, St.

00:32:00.720 - 00:32:17.290

Luke’s hospital, here in the medical center. Were your children raised as, um, Zoroastrians? Yes, um, and they are, and they continue to be. Uh, but, yeah, from, uh- one of the things

00:32:17.290 - 00:32:29.590

that impress me about Houston was- we had religious Sunday school every month for, uh, for kids. And so when my daughter was, um, three years old, I started taking her to Sunday school

00:32:29.590 - 00:32:44.620

every-every month at our Zoroastrian center. And I think uh, being there and playing with kids of, you know, her community and her faith, uh, she really started becoming an integral part of the

00:32:44.620 - 00:32:57.640

community. So, she is now in what we call a Youth Group, which is the eldest group of kids that we have, and, uh, she is running for office, and so on. And she feels quite integrated into the

00:32:57.640 - 00:33:10.550

community. And I think—I think my son feels the same way. He’s actually in office—he’s in what’s called the middle group’. And, uh, he’s, uh, the Vice President, and he enjoys throwing

00:33:10.550 - 00:33:22.670

his weight around, and showing off. How old are they? They are uh, 15 and 13. So, uh, good age. Do you speak Guajarati in the house?

00:33:22.850 - 00:33:33.160

Yes. Um, I do speak Gujarati. The kids will normally reply in English. Unless, they want something really badly. Then, they will start replying in Gujarati.

00:33:33.750 - 00:33:46.300

But I think there are- they understand Guajarati quite well. I think the reason they don’t speak is, uh, people have made fun of their accents in the past, and, so, I think that puts a damper on them speaking it more often.

00:33:46.990 - 00:34:03.570

But, uh, if I am out with my kids, and, uh, they are American friends around and they want to tell me something uh, privately, they will speak in Guajarati. And they will speak just fine. So are they staying with your ex-wife now? Uh, we- we kind of split it.

00:34:03.570 - 00:34:16.590

It’s- it’s roughly - um, uh, 40% of their time with me, and 60% of their time with her. But uh, yeah, today they are with her, but they will be coming to my house,

00:34:17.690 - 00:34:32.070

this week on Friday. So how’s the schooling district system compared to when they were in Sugarland? Um, I think it’s about the same, maybe-maybe a little lower in quality.

00:34:33.480 - 00:34:47.790

In-in Sugarland, and also when we lived in Katy, both-all the schools were, uh you know, at the exceptional level. Here, some of the schools there are at the acceptable level. I think there are- that’s only because

00:34:47.790 - 00:35:00.090

the schools are so new. And I think eventually at some point, they will get up to the exceptional level. Um, but— um, so— it takes time for schools to achieve that, that rating level.

00:35:00.600 - 00:35:15.120

And that’s what it is, I believe. I don’t have any specific complaints about their education, or anything on those lines. So when you first arrived in Houston, how did you start getting involved with the

00:35:15.120 - 00:35:26.940

Zoroastrian community here? I- I- kinda got straight thrown straight into it, honestly. Um, I came in, and uh, I became a member right away, and uh, started attending meetings and so on.

00:35:27.590 - 00:35:42.160

And, uh, lot of the people I got introduced to were, you know, active members, so I got pulled into a lot of the activities right away. Uh, and the year after I moved to Houston, uh, we actually open the center.

00:35:42.160 - 00:35:54.750

We inaugurated the center. So that was a big effort, and everybody was involved, and people volunteered, and I volunteered as well. And, I was on one of the committees, I don’t recall which

00:35:54.750 - 00:36:07.620

one exactly, but you know, everybody had their work to do, it was- it was good. Um, so I kept- kept myself involved, sort of. Uh, on an ad hoc basis, um,

00:36:08.910 - 00:36:19.790

until—in 2007, I actually ran for office and I got elected onto the board. And I stayed on board for six years. So uh, at that time, of course, I was very much involved with the community.

00:36:21.630 - 00:36:40.210

So, um, before you came to Houston, and there weren’t any big Zoroastrian populations, was it difficult for you to ever keep in touch with your faith? Uh- well, I practice it, you know, privately. But uh, yeah, the only time we would meet as

00:36:40.340 - 00:36:53.100

Zoroastrians- there wasn’t an association in Kansas, but there was all the way in Kansas City, which was like a four hour drive for me from Wichita. But, uh, we would meet maybe once a year, or maybe twice a year.

00:36:53.210 - 00:37:05.800

And if I could go, I would go. Um, it was a long drive, I leave early in the morning, arrive there, have the function, and drive back and essentially get home at 4 in the morning.

00:37:06.550 - 00:37:19.050

So it was quite tiring. But, uh, I did attempt to make the trip. The other thing, of course, in Wichita we also had an Indian association. I was a uh, part of that, there were roughly,

00:37:19.950 - 00:37:35.700

maybe 400 Indians in – in Wichita itself, so that was a big enough group, and we would meet up at, like, schools, or, you know, uh, at a hall, and occasionally on Diwali, or some other function,

00:37:36.950 - 00:37:45.300

and at least I get to meet other Indians. So I guess that was- that was good for me. Were those mostly, like, religious events? You said Diwali, so.

00:37:45.400 - 00:38:01.180

Oh well—occasionally- there would be puja and all that, but there would also be- essentially- a social component to it, uh, which will follow- so the puja and all will happen and we would followed that with dinner, um, so, I was there for- for- all of that.

00:38:01.310 - 00:38:14.500

And, I-I find it quite strange that in India I never attended a puja before, but you know, all the way here, in Wichita, we got to see what puja is really like. So, but anyway, it- it was good feeling.

00:38:14.820 - 00:38:25.050

There were lots of people who spoke Guajarati, uh, the Guajarati’s, and so I could talk to them in Guajarati, although the accent was quite different.

00:38:25.690 - 00:38:45.940

But we had a laugh, uh, at my funny accent. So do you plan to enforce your children to marry Zoroastrians in the future? Uh well I-I made it clear that I would prefer that. Um, honestly, I am not

00:38:46.070 - 00:39:01.650

sure how successful I could be in that. Uh, I certainly don't think I enforce it to the extent that, uh, you know, have a fight with my child if, if one of them decide to marry outside the faith. And

00:39:01.690 - 00:39:18.450

honestly, in the last uh, eight years or so, in Houston, every marriage that I’ve seen has- has been an interfaith marriage, hasn’t been one within the community. So, um, I don't have high hopes

00:39:18.490 - 00:39:34.500

that my children will find someone, you know, within our community to marry. Now, both children have good-good, uh, circle of friends here, but, uh, you know, I don't think I am not

00:39:34.500 - 00:39:48.450

certain that they will end up marrying the community. I think that would be a long shot. It- it- certainly would be my preference, but, uh, I don’t see that likely. Could you tell us how the Zoroastrian

00:39:49.300 - 00:40:08.380

community helped you here in Houston? Sure, one thing—well, firstly, it’s a-—it’s a good circle of people that you know with common religion and common background, language, food,

00:40:08.380 - 00:40:23.370

and so on. So, it helped a lot in settling down here. I felt far more at home in the first few weeks after coming to Houston than like when I did when I moved to Wichita, Kansas or any of the other places in

00:40:23.370 - 00:40:36.620

America. So I- I felt though far more at ease and more comfortable. More drawn in, um, you know, people I didn’t know would come up and meet me and introduce themselves, and we’d become friends

00:40:36.620 - 00:40:47.270

and so on. That was a good- good way to get in. Um, also, when I went through my divorce, it was a very tough time. It was a quite a bitter divorce.

00:40:47.360 - 00:41:02.550

And, uh, having the community around, people coming up and saying, you know, ‘we know what’s happening and we’ll pray for you’, and stuff like that was-was very heartwarming. So do you go back to India often?

00:41:04.070 - 00:41:21.310

Uh yeah. We try—I try to go back once every two or three years. Um, so we went-—I took the kids last year, and prior to that 2009 and also 2010. Uh, so, I do try to take them as often as I

00:41:21.310 - 00:41:35.570

can. We can’t go this year, we’re- we’re going on a cruise. So uh, the cruise took care of that trip this year. Um, and in 2012, uh, we travelled to England. Uh, my sister lives in London.

00:41:35.770 - 00:41:48.200

So we went there, and saw her family, and met all of her friends and uh, circle of friends there. Uh, um, so yes, we do try to go as often as we can.

00:41:48.620 - 00:42:04.880

Uh, this last year, they were old enough, so we did a tour around India. We went to Delhi, Agra, and so all these places with historical importance. Um, and I think they are old enough to appreciate and enjoy that now. Do you still have family in India?

00:42:04.880 - 00:42:18.390

Yes, my mother lives along with all my cousins and my mother’s siblings, and my aunts and uncles, and so on. Yes. Large family presence. So you said the biggest pull factor in coming to Houston was the big Zoroastrian

00:42:18.390 - 00:42:32.620

community here. And I’m sure back in India, there’s a bigger population of Zoroastrians. Then what stopped you from going back? Um, I-I think, uh, the thing about India is, uh well, the Zoroastrian community in India, you

00:42:32.620 - 00:42:50.950

don’t really miss it until you’ve- you’ve left the country. The- the people aren’t really, you know, those who happen to live in Zoroastrian neighborhood will be close-knit and so on, but those who live outside the Zoroastrian neighborhood, like I did with my

00:42:50.950 - 00:43:05.570

family, uh, we’re not as quite integrated into the Zoroastrian community as the people living in the neighborhood are. And what I found in Houston was, as I came here, I actually got more interested in the community,

00:43:05.570 - 00:43:16.930

more interested in learning about the religion, and so on. I actually, uh, started picking up books on the religion from my library and started reading them, which is something I wouldn’t have done if I was in India.

00:43:17.110 - 00:43:27.820

For uh, not sure. I guess if you’re there and if you’re immersed into it, you know, it’s—it’s nothing extraordinary. Whereas when you miss it, that’s when you decide to try

00:43:27.820 - 00:43:39.860

to pull yourself back and learn more about the faith. So, are you nationalized? Yes. Uh, so I became a U.S. citizen back in, uh, oh,

00:43:40.810 - 00:43:51.850

1999 or 2000. Uh, yes, I did go through the whole, uh, you know, taking a test and taking the oath of allegiance and so on. It was quite a

00:43:51.850 - 00:44:03.200

moving experience. Um, I’ve—I’ve felt good about that. On the other hand, I also miss my Indian citizenship. So after I did that, I went off and I became what’s

00:44:03.470 - 00:44:14.890

now called an Overseas Citizen of India. OCI. And, uh, basically, essentially, it’s- it’s a, you’re kind of a citizen, but not

00:44:14.890 - 00:44:30.670

a full-fledged citizen. So I can’t vote in India, but I have all the other rights that an Indian citizen would, and yeah, so I guess I have the best of both worlds now. Then do you identify yourself as an American or an

00:44:31.970 - 00:44:44.050

Indian? Um, I think it depends on whom I’m speaking with. If I am talking to, like, my neighbor, I would say, ‘I’m from India’. Uh, but, uh, of course, if I was overseas, and, you

00:44:44.560 - 00:44:53.200

know, I ran into another American, I would identify myself as an American. So I guess it kind of depends on what the situation is.

00:44:56.340 - 00:45:12.080

What about your children? Do you know if they identify themselves as Americans? Oh, oh. They definitely identify themselves as, uh, Texans. Not just Americans. They— they are strongly uh, strongly American and,

00:45:12.580 - 00:45:28.700

uh, strongly pro-Texan as well. And, in fact, they won’t hesitate to remind you where they come from. Do you have any other questions? I don’t have anything else. Do you have, uh, additional things that you want to add to the

00:45:28.760 - 00:45:44.270

interview that we didn’t ask? Hm. So- I don’t know, if you, uh, one of the questions on there was- what I see as the future of the community, but, uh, we had that in our interview sheet for when we were interviewing

00:45:44.620 - 00:45:59.020

people in our center. Uh, so I’ll throw my two cents in. Um, our community is very small, and it’s decreasing in numbers, so the results, or the outlooks, is not good for the long-term uh,

00:45:59.020 - 00:46:16.430

surviv-survival of our community. Um, I think a lot of Zoroastrians don’t get that, or kind of feel it, but ignore it as wishing it away, kind of deal. Um, I think, uh, we, Zoroastrians, whether we

00:46:16.430 - 00:46:32.670

are in India or anywhere else need to, uh, work hard and making sure we survive and perpetuate the community. And I don’t have an easy solution to that. You know, uh, you asked about my

00:46:32.860 - 00:46:45.130

kids, whether I would be happy if they married within the community. And yes, absolutely I think that’s one of the things that we can do. But there are maybe other things that we can do that we haven’t really thought about or not really considering.

00:46:45.670 - 00:46:58.160

I think most of us are hitting into oblivion, with the sky falling on our heads, and choosing not to uh, not to see that reality. So, uh, that’s my two cents.

00:46:59.100 - 00:47:03.600

Alright. Thank you so much for participating in this interview. Yeah. Thank you. Alright, thank you very much. Thank you.