00:00:02.520 - 00:00:14.290

This is Chris Johnson. And I’m Dillon Chai. And we’re here today on July 15th, 2014, um, in the home of Mr. Vispi Sagar, here to interview Mr. Sagar for the Houston Asian American Archive.

00:00:15.430 - 00:00:28.860

Um so, could you start off by telling us just a little bit about childhood, maybe where you grew up at, your neighborhood, your family life? How far back do I need to go? Um, maybe, like, when you were um a kid growing up, um…

00:00:29.650 - 00:00:46.350

Okay, I grew up in Mumbai, India. Uh do you need to know my age or anything like that or-? If you’d like to share that, that’s… Yeah, I was born in ’51. So, um it’s,

00:00:48.270 - 00:01:04.460

I guess I could talk about that a little later, but… I grew up in Mumbai, I was born in Mumbai, raised in Mumbai. And, I grew up in a predominantly Zoroastrian neighborhood. I

00:01:04.460 - 00:01:18.820

shouldn’t say predominantly, it, it was a Zoroastrian neighborhood. There was nobody else in that neighborhood of any other ethnic background. Uh it’s uh what we referred to as

00:01:20.330 - 00:01:35.490

Parsi colonies. Are you familiar with that, have you heard that before? Okay, they, they were colonies, basically, simplistic term, a complex, with apartments, multiple buildings

00:01:35.950 - 00:01:51.380

somewhere in the vicinity of 800 apartment flats. Buildings all scattered around in a circle, we had our own elementary school in there, uh we had our own fire temple, which is our place of worship.

00:01:52.520 - 00:02:07.440

And we also had our own, uh what we referred to as a pavilion, but actually called it a clubhouse. So, it was all self-contained, we had playgrounds in there as well. And, a gym as

00:02:07.440 - 00:02:22.910

well. Basically, everybody knew everybody else. It was——do I need to speak a little louder? Uh, that would be great, yeah, but, it’s fine, I just moved it closer so it should be fine.

00:02:23.040 - 00:02:43.190

Okay. Yeah. So, everybody knew everybody, it was hard to hide something from anybody, especially your parents. ‘Cause, if you, as a child did something wrong, word would get back to your parents before you reached home.

00:02:44.370 - 00:02:57.210

So, it was very, yeah, it’s different. Uh was it enjoyable? Absolutely, yes. Did I have fun? Absolutely, yes. Um…

00:03:00.820 - 00:03:13.340

I went to school in Mumbai; I had to take a bus ride to get there. And, it was a school called St. Xavier’s High School.

00:03:13.730 - 00:03:26.440

Even though it was a high school, it had all grades from, from 1 through 11, which is what we had at the time, grades 1 through 11. And the school was run by Jesuit priests from—predominantly

00:03:29.320 - 00:03:43.400

from Portugal. And there were also some local um uh priests as well. Uh it was a, you could call it a Catholic school,

00:03:44.630 - 00:04:04.410

but the Indian laws prevent them from preaching to children of other ethnicities. So, in school, when uh the, the, the uh administration of the school insisted on having religious

00:04:04.410 - 00:04:20.320

indoctrination of Catholic children, so they would be segregated and taught Catechism, and then the rest of us would be taught what was termed ‘moral science.’ So, that’s, that’s how they handled it.

00:04:20.400 - 00:04:42.500

But the rest of the curriculum was for everybody. And, um it was fun. Let’s see, what else… I graduated from St. Xavier’s High School, and then I went to St.

00:04:42.500 - 00:04:55.240

Xavier’s college, which was just next door. St. Xavier’s College is, is, is a four-year college. And, it is affiliated with the University of

00:04:55.900 - 00:05:10.670

Mumbai. There are many colleges in Mumbai, independent colleges, but they are all affiliated with the central university called the University of Mumbai.

00:05:11.920 - 00:05:27.080

So, after uh graduating from high school, I, I went to college, and uh—lemme back up, lemme back up a little bit to high school. We had to learn—of

00:05:30.990 - 00:05:44.140

course, English was the medium of instruction. But, we had to learn 3 other languages. One was uh a local dialect that

00:05:44.440 - 00:05:55.540

we as Zoroastrians were talking, which was Gujrati. G-u-j-r-a-t-i. The other was the Indian, what they considered the national language,

00:05:55.590 - 00:06:07.680

which is Hindi, H-i-n-d-i. And we also had to learn another language, uh a European language, and I chose French. So, we had 4 years of French.

00:06:08.680 - 00:06:27.560

Um it was funny that we were taught vocabulary, grammar, everything, but not, not to uh, there was no conversational training at all, whatsoever, which was kind of

00:06:27.770 - 00:06:41.520

uh, very different now that I think back about it. Okay, so, in college, it was a four-year degree. Uh I went through freshman—at the end of freshman year, we

00:06:41.520 - 00:06:59.220

had to decide if you wanted to go to an engineering school. And, there are entrance exams that you have to take for engineering school. Uh maybe you’re familiar with the Indian Institute of Technology, which is one of the

00:06:59.560 - 00:07:18.420

premiere engineering institutions in India. At that time, they had five locations scattered all over India. And they had entrance exams being conducted at multiple locations all over the country. And, as luck would have it, I, I

00:07:18.420 - 00:07:35.160

even went to a training class that prepares you to take the entrance exam. And, this is funny, uh now that I think about it. Uh I actually missed taking

00:07:36.130 - 00:07:54.210

the entrance exam because I thought it was on a different day. And I had hell to pay, I, I don’t know how I explained it to my parents, but uh at least I live to tell. Uh which, what happens then is

00:07:54.260 - 00:08:18.050

that I, I was basically, I had to stay behind in St. Xavier’s college and complete a science major, which, and I chose Chemistry because I found it was the easiest one…and basically, and then I graduated from there, and when I

00:08:18.050 - 00:08:36.440

graduated, I came here. Alright, um, let’s see, I guess stepping back a little bit then, what did your parents do for a living? My mother was a housewife, my father used to work at one of

00:08:36.580 - 00:08:47.880

Mumbai’s premiere hotels; it’s called the Taj Mahal Hotel. It’s a five-star hotel. Uh he started out way at the bottom.

00:08:49.640 - 00:09:05.480

Like, I don’t know exactly what the word is, what the title was, but he used to go to the market every morning to shop for the kitchen. Y’know, buying vegetables, and supplies, and fish, and meat for the, for the

00:09:05.910 - 00:09:18.520

hotel kitchen. And then somewhere along the line when I was about 6 or 7 years old, uh he took it upon himself to further his education. He went to Europe.

00:09:19.530 - 00:09:40.130

And, trained there for formal education for a year, and, followed by internship at multiple hotels all over Europe. And then, he came back to Mumbai, same hotel, and he was promoted to banquet manager, and then by the time

00:09:40.230 - 00:10:00.820

he retired, he was a director of sales for the entire hotel chain. So, he kinda started way at the bottom, and then moved up. So, did you attend the elementary school uh in—within the Zoroastrian

00:10:01.190 - 00:10:20.640

Complex? Or did you directly go to St. Xavier’s? There was a, uh there was a, I don’t know how to describe it, it was like a uh almost Kindergarten, but, maybe even Pre-Kindergarten, there was an elementary school

00:10:20.640 - 00:10:36.500

in, in our community, and I attended that when I was a little child, but my parents, from talking to others, understood that if I was to get into a good school such as St. Xavier’s school, I would have to have a

00:10:37.760 - 00:10:56.600

better foundation, educationally. So, they moved me to a small school that was run by a, I, I very clearly remember she was a Christian lady, and she had two sons,

00:10:57.340 - 00:11:16.880

and one of them was a polio victim on crutches, and he was my age. And, I remember, all of us were there because we all wanted to go to St. Xavier’s high school. And, the lady was a professional

00:11:16.960 - 00:11:35.530

teacher, and she ran the school there, and I remember, all of us got admitted to St. Xavier’s high school. Um, so growing up, was it just you and your parents that lived together, or did you have

00:11:35.530 - 00:11:48.920

extended family living with you, or…? Good question. Uh our apartment had two bedrooms—a living room and a kitchen. In the two bedrooms,

00:11:48.920 - 00:11:59.970

uh it was split, my grandparents, my father’s parents used to live there, in that room. And my parents lived in the other bedroom.

00:12:01.290 - 00:12:17.600

Uh my brother and I, there were, there were two of us, we would sleep in the living room, on the sofa. So, we didn’t have our own bedroom growing up. They were what we would refer to back then as

00:12:17.960 - 00:12:35.910

sofa-come-beds. So, we just pull ‘em out, they flatten out, become a bed. Uh however, from time to time, my cousins uh would come over and stay with us, and then we’d put mattresses on the floor, and we’d just make do.

00:12:35.910 - 00:12:52.000

We all, all stayed together, uncles and aunts visit; we’d just adapt and accommodate everybody. So, it was with my grandparent—yeah, I was most of the time with my grandparents, yes.

00:12:54.590 - 00:13:11.650

Was it typical for Zoroastrian families to have three generations living under the same roof? I would say—I would say, predominantly, yes. Yes. Mm-hmm.

00:13:13.590 - 00:13:34.560

That has changed over the years, though, uh but, now it is more driven by economics, and affordability of housing, and availability of housing. Were your friends mainly Zoroastrians, or were they of other ethnicities

00:13:36.660 - 00:13:48.550

as well? Most of my friends were Zoroastrians, but I also had a lot of friends from other ethnicities, yes. Mainly because of exposure at school.

00:13:48.590 - 00:14:01.530

We had team sports, athletics, and all that kind of stuff, I mean, yeah, yeah. It was a lot of—but because of the fact that I lived in a Zoroastrian community, and I spent most of my time there, most of my friends were there.

00:14:02.880 - 00:14:15.500

So, what language did you speak with them? Uh it’s a combination of Gujarati and English. You could—I kind of—a lot of people have coined the term, y’know, like, Spanglish?

00:14:16.100 - 00:14:31.580

Y’know, it’s Gujenglish. So, it’s, y’know, English with Gujarati words thrown in there. Um, so what did you like to do for fun with your friends? We used to play games. Excuse me.

00:14:33.450 - 00:14:50.090

We played games. Uh cricket, football, volleyball. And, just games that we made up that were local. Uh and, uh we used to cycle a lot. We didn’t—we couldn’t afford

00:14:50.120 - 00:15:05.410

to buy a cycle and keep a cycle in our apartment, but it was customary, and very typical for us to go to the bazaar, which was like, maybe, a block away and rent a bicycle, by the hour.

00:15:05.950 - 00:15:20.270

And that’s what we used to do. And because we, we were all inside, um, uh our streets were quite clear, at least when I was growing up, there were very few cars there.

00:15:21.700 - 00:15:42.050

I do remember that, when, when my father came back from his education and training overseas, he brought me a pair of roller skates. And the roller skates had rubber wheels on them, which was

00:15:42.430 - 00:15:57.400

unheard of at the time. And I prided myself on being the only guy in our community who had roller skates with rubber wheels. ‘Cause usually, they were iron, iron wheels that tended to wear out very fast, too, so...

00:15:57.920 - 00:16:21.140

I, I did pretty good at roller skating. Um so, you mentioned that originally, it was your intent to go into engineering, is that correct? Um so, what motivated you to go down that career path? It was a toy that I sort of inherited from my uncle, my

00:16:21.140 - 00:16:36.210

dad’s brother who used to live with us by the way, at one time, when I was a little child. He had what you would refer to as an Erector Set. And, I inherited that, and I

00:16:36.210 - 00:16:49.390

used to love building stuff, building things with it. Cranes, robots, uh you name it. But they were the old fashioned ones without electrical motors, and all that stuff that’s there today.

00:16:50.250 - 00:17:11.760

But that got me fascinated with engineering, and that’s, that was the driver. Um, so can you tell us about your time in college, what that experience was like? Which college? Oh um, the orig—the first four-year college that you went to.

00:17:11.760 - 00:17:23.510

First four-year college? Yes, sir. I cut a lot of classes. I know that for sure. But I made it. Um…I

00:17:27.710 - 00:17:40.410

think the only difference I saw was the freedom, of going from a very strict Catholic high school where, y’know, everything is on time, and

00:17:40.580 - 00:17:56.960

everything disciplined, to college where you were suddenly basically uh considered to be an adult, and nobody was telling you what to do. You just had to do what you had to do.

00:17:58.280 - 00:18:14.860

And, that was an interesting learning experience. Also, it was the first time that I was in a co-ed education facility.

00:18:18.010 - 00:18:30.870

Because St. Xavier’s High School was boys only. So, that’s pretty much it. Um and what was your degree in, again?

00:18:31.640 - 00:18:46.060

It was in Chemistry. Um, and so, at that point in time, did you live in a student dorm, or was it- At home. Oh, at home. Yes, I commuted from

00:18:51.780 - 00:19:04.570

home. Um so, you said following that, you came to the U.S.—was it immediately after graduating from college, or- Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. Uh actually, what happened was, see, my dad’s

00:19:06.290 - 00:19:22.380

brother, the one who gave me the Erector Set, he himself was an engineer, a civil engineer. And he migrated to the United States back in the early 60s. Very early

00:19:22.380 - 00:19:39.230

60s. And, I sort of looked at him as a role model, uh, he was a role model for me. And uh, he had, he kinda

00:19:39.320 - 00:19:51.030

always told me, he said, ‘When you get out of college, you gotta come and join me. You gotta come and join me, you gotta come to the U.S.’ And he kept saying that, and I kept hearing that as a child.

00:19:51.410 - 00:20:09.400

And uh, it was, in my mind, it was very clear, that’s what I have to do. So, that was why. But, I had already started, um, looking for a U.S.

00:20:09.400 - 00:20:26.590

university to go to a year before. So, I started my hunting, shopping trip, you could call it. Found out all the requirements to enter a U.S. university, which included uh taking the um TOEFL

00:20:28.440 - 00:20:41.430

exam. Let’s see, ‘Test of English as a Foreign Language’ I think, which of course, I got really good scores, because I was, my medium of instruction all through school was English.

00:20:44.710 - 00:21:01.020

Uh but I found out that I couldn’t get into a graduate engineering program because I had a bachelor’s in Chemistry at an Indian university which is not recognized in the U.S.. So I found out that I had to do my

00:21:01.160 - 00:21:19.840

bachelor’s all over again, in the U.S.. Fortunately for me, they told me I needed to take the SAT. Now, taking the SAT after four years of college, majoring in Chemistry? It was, it was a breeze, of course.

00:21:20.480 - 00:21:34.500

So, I basically aced the Chemistry and the Math part of it. And, so, the university gave me advanced placement, so I only had about two years’ worth of courses to take to get my chemical engineering

00:21:34.500 - 00:21:48.190

degree. Because I only had to take chemical engineering courses, a few math courses, advanced math courses, and some of those electives and liberal art requirements.

00:21:49.380 - 00:22:05.580

And, so, I, I graduated in two and a half years, which included one summer. Um, and what university was that? University of Rhode Island. I had,

00:22:06.940 - 00:22:25.000

I had admission to University of Florida in Gainesville, as well, but when I was in Mumbai, it just so happened that the front cover of the Times of India newspaper had a story on it,

00:22:25.000 - 00:22:39.460

where it said ‘Student Riots at University of Florida in Gainesville,’ because that was the time of the anti- Vietnam war riots on universities. So, I said, ‘That’s not a place I want to go.’ In hindsight, it might have been

00:22:39.460 - 00:22:57.040

better if I’d gone there , but that’s it. It’s water under the bridge. Was it difficult for your family seeing you go overseas? No, I don’t think so. I think it was more difficult for my mother from

00:22:57.040 - 00:23:13.150

an emotional standpoint. Uh but, for my father and the rest of the family, it was basically uh, accepted long time ago, that that was the way to go for, I mean, I think from the standpoint of opportunities.

00:23:25.400 - 00:23:47.500

So, what was your first impression of the United States when you got there? ‘Wow.’ Uh, it was, uh it was intimidating at first, because, you’re in a totally different culture.

00:23:48.780 - 00:24:01.660

Language was never an issue. But, cultural norms were an issue. Uh it was perfectly—I’ll give you an example. At school,

00:24:04.830 - 00:24:19.750

uh, somebody asked me—for two reasons—two different incidents here uh where other students judged me based on my behavior.

00:24:20.930 - 00:24:35.140

And, one of them was, see, in India, it is very common practice for friends, y’know, if they’re standing and talking in a group or something like that to, y’know, put your hand on another friend’s

00:24:35.140 - 00:24:53.000

shoulder, or to put your hand around his shoulder, and kinda, y’know, talk, it’s very—touching is normal. So, when I, I forget, I think it was an Indian guy who was a friend of

00:24:53.000 - 00:25:09.140

mine in, and, I must’ve put my hand on his shoulder, and people started, in hindsight, I said, ‘y’know, now I can understand why people are giving me funny looks.’ And then, I didn’t even think about it, but there was another guy in

00:25:09.140 - 00:25:20.010

my class, and I just happened to touch his shoulder and he—‘Hey!’ And, and you know where I ‘m going with this right, stereotyping as being homosexual and all.

00:25:20.740 - 00:25:37.920

So that was, that was a learning experience. The other part was that I, you know, University of Rhode Island, of course, it’s co-ed education, and there’s women all over—we had a, we had a group of people with, y’know, friends from my dorm, we

00:25:37.920 - 00:25:53.720

used to get together in the dining room and eat together boys and girls, and I never asked the girls out for a date. So, one of the girls who was friends with me asked me, said, ‘Y’know, how come you haven’t asked me for a date or any

00:25:53.720 - 00:26:08.090

of the other girls for a date?’ I said, ‘Well, I have a have a girlfriend back home, and I’m sort of, kind of engaged…’ And uh, it was a difficult thing for her to accept. So,

00:26:11.000 - 00:26:28.030

that was another learning experience. So, when did you get engaged, since you just mentioned that? Well, it was an unofficial engagement with my, with my current wife, just before I left. We were, we were

00:26:28.160 - 00:26:43.890

going around for a little over a year, and that’s, that’s about it. Did you meet her in college, like— —no, she was, she was in the same community where I grew up.

00:26:44.240 - 00:26:57.060

Oh, okay… Um so, going back to your college days, would you say you had a pretty easy time fitting in there? Like finding- Rhode Island—University of Rhode Island?

00:26:57.060 - 00:27:12.890

Yeah. Yeah, once I figured out what needed to be done, it was no big deal. It was not a big deal at all. Uh making friends with uh with the American students was a little difficult.

00:27:14.360 - 00:27:29.540

I think the only friends I had were the ones that I had in my dorm suite. We used to—had a dorm suite, that were four rooms. Uh two in each of ‘em, except for

00:27:29.640 - 00:27:47.100

one which was a single. And, so, y’know, we, we had a pretty good group of guys, I mean, once you start staying together, living together, people kind of, y’know, get friendly, and, it’s okay.

00:27:49.500 - 00:28:02.390

How did you first meet your suitemates, or, how did you decide to live with those people, specifically? Random, it just happened. ‘You’re in Burnside Suite Number 208, C,’ or whatever. And you just show up.

00:28:03.840 - 00:28:21.490

Were they curious about India? Not really. The first, the first roommate that I had was a heavyset trombone uh player from Rhode Island, of Dutch ex—of Dutch ancestry.

00:28:23.490 - 00:28:40.820

And, his first, part of his first conversation was, ‘Look, my girlfriend visits me very often. So, if you see a handkerchief or a tie on the doorknob, don’t knock.’ Again, introduction to U.S.

00:28:41.780 - 00:28:57.760

culture. Don’t publish this stuff, okay? Um was uh going from a sort of warmer climate to Rhode Island—was that a big adjustment, was that a

00:28:57.760 - 00:29:08.840

shock at all? From where to Rhode Island? Oh, sorry, from, like, a warmer climate, um India, going from that to Rhode Island, was that a shock at all, or the temperature difference? I knew it was going to be cold, but I didn’t know,

00:29:11.360 - 00:29:27.790

uh I didn’t know how cold it really was until I got there. Uh I think we started, y’know, fall semester, and then we had the first snow storm. And I remember going to class in the morning,

00:29:28.830 - 00:29:43.040

it was snowing, uh not heavy, but, y’know, it was a little, maybe half an inch, or an inch of snow on the ground. Cold. And, all, I’m walking, you see, Rhode Island, University of Rhode Island

00:29:43.040 - 00:29:57.360

is a very hilly campus, so lots of ups-and-downs, climbing up this hill… All of a sudden, my feet start to feel very cold. And I look down to find out that my shoe sole had split.

00:29:59.170 - 00:30:15.060

The shoe that I had bought from India had an adhesive that basically hardened when it got very cold, and lost its adhesive property, and just kind of separated out, and basically, I was—my feet were exposed to the

00:30:15.060 - 00:30:33.650

elements. But, that’s, you learn different things. Um and, so I guess on that note what things did you bring to the U.S.? Anything in particular that you remember, or…? One suitcase.

00:30:36.820 - 00:30:52.330

Very few clothes, because, my family said, ‘Look, uh the clothes that we wear over here are not the same style, fashion over there. You just—you should get the clothes from there.’ So, I

00:30:52.490 - 00:31:11.810

didn’t mention this, but my mother’s sister, my mother’s younger sister, she and her family had settled in Pittsburgh, also in the 60’s. So, I visited her, and she took it upon herself to take me out shopping, and out for, clothes,

00:31:13.420 - 00:31:39.140

a jacket to wear in wintertime, and um you know, simple things like a bed sheet, a quilt for my bed, stuff like that. Um so, upon finishing your second bachelor’s degree there, where did you go after that?

00:31:41.520 - 00:31:56.160

I was offered a job at three places. One was American Cyanamid. I think that’s a company that doesn’t exist anymore. They were the first ones to invent, by the way, aside, that’s the only way I remember,

00:31:56.230 - 00:32:09.080

they were the ones that invented and marketed that stick, that luminous stick at night. Y’know that green, luminous, thing? You kinda—it’s plastic, and you crack it, and it start—glows

00:32:09.290 - 00:32:22.280

green? Well, that was one of the products that they had made. And, the job was in Connecticut. The other one was with the, with Exxon, in

00:32:22.370 - 00:32:39.270

Clinton, New Jersey, and the third one was with Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Ohio, Akron, Ohio. And, during the 197—early 1970s when I was in college,

00:32:40.710 - 00:32:58.790

there was this uh, the oil, the first oil shock, the oil embargo that was, was uh implemented by OPEC that caused oil prices to skyrocket for the first time in the U. S., and caused long lines at the gas pump, at that time, uh

00:33:01.580 - 00:33:15.370

oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil were sort of uh ‘bad, bad!’ Y’know, so, it’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to work for something like that.’ So, I went and worked for Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio.

00:33:20.910 - 00:33:38.350

Can you describe the neighborhood that you first moved into? What was—what were the demographics like, what was it like in that neighborhood? When we moved in, I had just got married, after

00:33:39.010 - 00:33:55.360

I—after I got—after I graduated, I was supposed to start my job in about a month and a half, and I told my boss that ‘Look, I might have to go back because I want to get married.’ He says ‘if you want to get married, get married first and then start

00:33:55.390 - 00:34:11.510

your job. Don't, don’t you know, don't do it the other way around.’ So I took his advice, I went home to India, got married and came back, started the job, and found an apartment at an apartment

00:34:11.900 - 00:34:25.450

complex uh in Akron, Ohio. Uh but we didn't—we stayed there for less than a year, and then moved to a small community called Canal Fulton, population 4,000.

00:34:26.240 - 00:34:47.600

It's very close to the NFL Football Hall of Fame in Kenton, Ohio. Um there we, we rented a duplex, no, triplex, one of the units in a triplex, and that's where we also started a family—started our family.

00:34:50.290 - 00:35:05.850

When did your wife follow you back to the United States? She came back in about two or three months, because uh she had to wait for all the formalities of visas and you know, she had to, she had to get her green card and all

00:35:09.140 - 00:35:25.190

that. Um did you and your wife have a traditional Zoroastrian wedding or— Yes, very. Can you describe that for us a little bit, what that entailed or… I don't know how to describe it, I mean it's just

00:35:28.020 - 00:35:49.230

uh—you get up on stage, the two of us were on stage, and there's a priest, he says the prayers, and vows in our language sort of, kind of, not exactly, but sort of, kind of. Uh you have standing behind you family members as witnesses,

00:35:50.950 - 00:36:07.890

exchange rings, and they also say the same thing, you may kiss the bride kind of a thing, and that was it. And we had a lot of uh guests there, couple of hundred people invited as guests for dinner, and that's about

00:36:15.480 - 00:36:35.410

it. And so can you tell us about your first job? Like at—with Firestone. I was uh hired as a research engineer working in a research pilot unit, pilot plant.

00:36:37.160 - 00:36:57.290

And uh—it was basically taking things that the scientists had uh invented and then trying—I mean they make it in small glassware, my job was to take it from that and put it into larger pots and

00:36:57.360 - 00:37:15.090

pans, tanks, reactors, and make more of it, that was my job. But even though I worked at Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, I never worked with tires, I worked

00:37:15.090 - 00:37:43.770

with rubber, the raw material, the synthetic raw materials that are used to make tires, and other rubber products. Um and so how long did you work um with that company? I'm going to say twelve years, twelve, thirteen years maybe.

00:37:45.640 - 00:38:03.800

Uh the reason I changed is because I—I saw the writing on the wall, maybe I should have—I waited too long, a company like that, I noticed that the people were not advancing, it was very uh limited opportunity

00:38:05.210 - 00:38:21.710

to advance. And besides that, where we lived, we were in the SnowBbelt. And we used to get dumped on with a lot of snow. We had lake effects from Lake

00:38:21.760 - 00:38:39.310

Erie, come and just dump a lot of snow on us. I had an accident driving in snow; my wife had an accident driving in snow when she was pregnant with our first child. Both of us were okay, but still, put the

00:38:39.420 - 00:38:53.210

fear of God in us . This cold weather is just too much, so I started looking for a job. I said I'm going to limit myself and just focus on a job in Florida or Texas.

00:38:53.330 - 00:39:04.010

Of course I knew that there's no chemical industries in Florida, so it'd probably be Texas, so it just worked out that way. And Exxon Mobil called and offered me a job, through a headhunter.

00:39:08.800 - 00:39:21.690

Um and so when did you move to— '87. And was that to Houston? Yes. Okay. We lived in Houston Metropolitan Area but work was in Baytown,

00:39:22.310 - 00:39:36.810

that's where the Exxon Mobil complex is. Uh so what was your first impression of Houston? Uh, let me back up here.

00:39:37.710 - 00:39:53.470

When I was working at Firestone, I used to go and attend uh AICHE national meetings, American Institute of Chemical Engineers national meetings, and one of those meetings was in Houston. I came to Houston and stayed at

00:39:54.610 - 00:40:11.440

the Hilton hotel, which was right next to the Astrodome. That hotel doesn't exist today; it was razed several years—several decades ago. I stayed there, and I remember getting into bed, and

00:40:14.760 - 00:40:33.070

within a few minutes I jumped out of bed because there was something creepy-crawly on my tummy. It was a big roach, I—by the way that was not the only one—there were many friends of that

00:40:33.160 - 00:40:47.540

roach in my room. I call the manager and said ‘Hey, I don't want anything to do with this room, move me to somewhere else.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, we'll fumigate it.’ I said ‘no.’ But at that point I said ‘Man, I don't think I ever want

00:40:47.540 - 00:41:00.420

to live here.’ But that was you know like 5, 6 years before I got the job offer and then, hey, I'm allowed to change my mind. But that was my first impression.

00:41:00.420 - 00:41:27.370

Roach motel, roach hotel, whatever you want to call it. What do you think about Houston after you got here for your job? It's uh it’s a nice place, not the best. I've seen a lot of other cities, I think other cities might be

00:41:27.370 - 00:41:45.280

considered prettier. But Houston is home, here is where I have a lot of friends. My family is here, uh our social network is here, we have good theaters in downtown, which my wife loves to go

00:41:45.390 - 00:41:59.840

to. Uh the cultural activities in Houston are pretty good. The only thing I don't like about Houston is the zoning problem, there's no zones, you can have a factory with a house right next to

00:42:05.600 - 00:42:17.780

it. So, I guess initial problems with the roaches aside, what did you find the most difficult thing moving to Houston? Nothing really, no.

00:42:20.720 - 00:42:40.920

Nothing. It was easy. And so what was your job with Exxon Mobil? Uh, it was uh similar to what I was doing in, in Firestone, which was taking a new invention, a new product

00:42:40.920 - 00:42:58.980

and then scaling it up in a larger facility. But this time it was not rubber, this time it was plastics. Um and so how long did you work with that company? Twenty—twenty-three years.

00:43:01.390 - 00:43:27.080

With Exxon Mobil. Um and so how would you compare Houston to um Akron? Akron was a…um, I would say that is a small town.

00:43:29.630 - 00:43:46.480

We had friends there, but much fewer in number than what we have here. Um but living in a small town like Canal Fulton, by the way we built our first home in Canal Fulton, right, right, right in

00:43:46.480 - 00:44:08.000

that same city—same town, sorry. I think that it was a, a safer environment to raise a family, I thought. You know, we could talk to our neighbors, our kids could play with the

00:44:08.000 - 00:44:21.920

neighbors, if I forgot to lock the front door or the back door at night, pfft—who cares? We didn't have a security system in the house, um and it was just a

00:44:25.320 - 00:44:51.760

friendlier place to raise a family. Yeah. Um, could you describe for us the demographics of the first place you lived in Houston a little bit?

00:44:51.760 - 00:45:04.030

Like the neighborhood, what was that like, the vibe of it? Yeah, we lived in—when we moved here we moved in to a gated community in, in Lake City, called Saltcho Harbor.

00:45:04.920 - 00:45:22.710

And it was a very nice community, we had nice neighbors there, other than the fact that one of the neighbors had a pit-bull, which attacked our neighbor's chihuahua. Uh no contest there .

00:45:24.170 - 00:45:40.240

But we had neighbors with children that were similar in age to our kids, we have two daughters, they got along very well. So it was a nice neighborhood, yeah, nice neighborhood.

00:45:42.410 - 00:45:56.830

And what drove you to move from that neighborhood? From that neighborhood? Yeah. My wife started a job at the Galleria, in the Galleria area, working for a company called Telecheck.

00:45:59.160 - 00:46:19.260

And the commute from Lake City to the Galleria was many times over an hour long, through heavy traffic, and it was testing her sanity and patience a lot. So we decided to move to Pearland, because Pearland

00:46:19.980 - 00:46:35.940

was sort of central for me, well back up. Pearland was closer to the Galleria for my wife, but for me it was sort of equidistant between two possible locations at Exxon Mobil.

00:46:36.030 - 00:46:49.320

Exxon Mobil had a, had a large complex in Baytown, and Exxon Mobil had the head office on the west side of Houston. So it was kind of equidistance— distant on either side for me, and I was okay with

00:46:58.290 - 00:47:21.790

that. Um, so how have you seen Houston change over the years? Yeah, it's become very crowded, more and more crowded. Uh when we moved into Lake City, we could get from the Gulf Freeway, I-45, to our

00:47:22.050 - 00:47:41.180

house in like less than five minutes. By the, by the time it was—one year past the time we moved into that new house, there were about 6 or 7 traffic lights on the road going to I-45,

00:47:41.230 - 00:47:58.460

and all of a sudden it would take us 15 to 20 minutes to get from our house to the freeway. Not to mention the traffic on I-45, which is legendary in Houston. Well, that's one thing…what

00:48:02.280 - 00:48:12.730

else uh. No, other than congestion and just too many people and difficult commuting—difficulty commuting within the city, those are the changes

00:48:12.730 - 00:48:30.530

I would say. Um and as somebody who wasn't originally from the U.S., have you ever felt like you experienced any hostility or difficulty since coming to the U.S. or Houston? Yes, one time.

00:48:31.780 - 00:48:50.180

One time that was—I mean very clear, very overt. Uh this happened in Firestone, in the pilot plant. One of the operators decided he didn't like me, and would kind of um go out of his way to make

00:48:51.120 - 00:49:10.060

sure I that knew about it. And one time I remember he, he killed a horsefly, or some—it was a fly, I don’t know what—it was about that big , and I had my lab notebook

00:49:11.400 - 00:49:28.680

on my desk. And he put it over there, on my notebook, circled it, put an arrow on it, and said, ‘National bird of India.’ Now that was just, pure unadulterated,

00:49:30.730 - 00:49:46.760

well you know what it is. That was the only time I had a problem. In other cases it may have been subtle, but I was too dumb to notice. So, I have been very fortunate, I must say I have been very fortunate.

00:49:54.550 - 00:50:14.630

Um so how'd you first become involved with the Zoroastrian Association of Houston? Uh when I first came here in '87, I was, I was positively impressed by what they were doing, and I started volunteering my time.

00:50:15.510 - 00:50:30.330

And I think back in 1990, I stood for election to serve on the executive committee at the association. I got on there, then I served as president of the association for two years.

00:50:31.840 - 00:50:43.080

We did not have our center—are you familiar with our Zoroastrian center? That didn't exist back then, that was just a gleam in our eye, a dream that we had.

00:50:44.380 - 00:51:05.910

So we would meet at people's homes, our meetings would be at people's homes. So it was a very uh, how should I say it, virtual association. So that, that's where I started working, and then after that I also participated in an activity which raised

00:51:07.360 - 00:51:26.440

funds to build that building over there. Uh and uh I remember I had to go to Japan many times for a business trip. And uh one of the trips I said I'm going to take a side trip to

00:51:26.550 - 00:51:51.810

Hong Kong, because there's a large population of Zoroastrians there who are very wealthy. And I took my blueprints over there, showed it to them, and said this is our vision, and etcetera, etcetera, and

00:51:56.490 - 00:52:18.080

they made a sizable contribution to us. Hey hon. Um, so you said you were president of the association for two years, is that correct?

00:52:18.630 - 00:52:39.590

So were there any uh big projects or goals that you did during that time or- No, at that time it was mainly trying to…it was just keeping people together, keeping them connected,

00:52:41.130 - 00:52:58.230

and having and organizing social events. Uh we had Sunday school for the children, once a month at somebody's house—that was part of it. We'd have annual picnics, and I already

00:52:58.370 - 00:53:10.780

told you about the fundraiser for the building, that was a major, major project during those days, we'd have uh charity balls and stuff like that. So that's—that's mainly what we were trying to do at that time.

00:53:10.780 - 00:53:33.510

I mean no, no fancy things like community outreach and all that kind of stuff, no, nothing of that nature, not at that time. Um, so aside from your wedding, have you ever gone back to India at any point in time? Oh many times. Yeah, many, many times.

00:53:33.510 - 00:53:48.740

And now I'm going back every year, and now—well in the past 8 or 10 years, we've been going back every year, but going forward it's going to be like every 6 months because of aging parents and keeping an eye on them.

00:53:51.090 - 00:54:08.290

Um so in the past when you've gone, what types of things do you like to do when you're back over there? Eat some of the good food over there, oh yeah. I catch up with old friends, there's a lot of socializing. Yeah,

00:54:08.930 - 00:54:24.300

and we eat, and we eat too much. And would those friends be from your college days? Mostly from our community, yes. Yeah. People we grew up with, not necessarily from college.

00:54:29.150 - 00:54:58.900

Um and so you've gone back, how have you seen it change since you first left way back when- Lots of opportunities, lots of progress…. Lots more people. That's it. Um, can you tell us a little about your children?

00:55:00.460 - 00:55:25.580

We have two daughters. Um, they're both um—what should I say, um well settled. Um my older daughter chose to do chemical engineering at uh UT in Austin. She did some consulting work for Accenture, then she

00:55:25.580 - 00:55:44.820

said—and she always wanted to work in the medical field, so she said she's going to do that, and she joined MD Anderson and did some um project related work over there for about 2, 3 years.

00:55:46.220 - 00:56:02.590

And then she quit, and then now she's doing work for Center Point Energy. She has two daughters, young daughters, uh 6 and 3. And they live in this subdivision on the other side.

00:56:04.150 - 00:56:22.760

So we're about what, two or three minutes away from, from them. My younger daughter, who also went to UT, she got a bachelor in business, and then uh she started working for

00:56:22.860 - 00:56:35.520

Texas Instruments. She went back to school and got her MBA. I could never remember the name of the college she went to, um, President George

00:56:35.630 - 00:56:52.180

Bush's wife graduated from there, I can't remember. From Dallas, it's in Dallas. Anyway, she got her MBA from there, and uh right now she's working at uh JC Penney's headquarters

00:56:52.640 - 00:57:05.300

office in Dallas. She has a home there, she has a—has a son who's a little over a year old. That's it. Two girls.

00:57:09.320 - 00:57:22.420

Um and so you mentioned a while back that you spoke several languages growing up, have you passed any of those on to your children? Unfortunately, no. We tried in the beginning to talk in Gujrati to our children.

00:57:23.430 - 00:57:37.490

They—when they were little children they would understand, but they were afraid to say it, or speak it. But definitely once they start going to school, it was English, and nothing else.

00:57:44.180 - 00:57:58.690

Um and was passing on Zoroastrianism or aspects of Indian culture, was that important to you when you were raising your children? Yes, yes, it is, very much so. We, we have a um, have

00:57:58.920 - 00:58:11.370

a—you may be familiar with it, the ‘Navjot’ ceremony, uh which is an indoctrination—not an—initiation, very much like the Jewish people have their bar- mitzvah or something like that.

00:58:11.450 - 00:58:25.540

Similar to that. So uh where the children have to learn to say their prayers in our ancient language, which is of Persian origin. And unfortunately we don't understand what we're praying, but

00:58:25.620 - 00:58:44.730

that's a different story. But they, they learned it and they went through the rites and the rituals to become a official Zoroastrian. Yeah. So did your children,

00:58:44.820 - 00:59:07.220

attend, like Sunday school? Yes, they did. And Sunday school would be taught in English? Yes. Um, so as far as identity goes, would you say that you identify um as a Zoroastrian,

00:59:07.220 - 00:59:23.120

as an Indian, American, Texan? Could you describe that for us a little bit? You know, um a lot of people have asked me—they say, ‘Where are you from?’ I don't look like a typical

00:59:23.790 - 00:59:41.420

white American, so I always say that I'm originally from India, but I'm a Zoroastrian, which is of Persian origin. I say that to them, when they ask me that question. But as far as my identity, I'm American, really.

00:59:42.660 - 00:59:59.220

I'm not Indian, I don't, I don’t feel an obligation or—I don't know how to describe it. Do you still have any ties to the Akron area?

01:00:02.480 - 01:00:18.750

Maybe one or two friends, that's about it, and we communicate maybe once, when it's Christmas time, card exchange or something like that. Um so have there been any big events in U.S.

01:00:18.790 - 01:00:34.110

history that you feel really impacted your life? Yeah, 9/11. That was a big event. Um I think that's it.

01:00:34.560 - 01:00:52.910

That's the only one. And did you feel there were any ways that affected you specifically or was it more of just you know- No it's, not specific, no, no. I mean, we did it, we were impacted by natural events, uh you know

01:00:53.030 - 01:01:09.670

Hurricane Ike. When we were living in Pearland, Hurricane Ike hit our house, we had about $45,000 worth of damage. Which of course insurance takes care of it, but it doesn't prepare you for the shock to see what, what nature can

01:01:09.670 - 01:01:29.050

do. So you mentioned earlier today's the first day of your second retirement so can you describe... The first one? The first one, and what brought you out of your first retirement?

01:01:29.250 - 01:01:46.640

Yeah see I retired from Exxon Mobil in 2010, July of 2010. And I was perfectly fine for 2 years, uh happily retired. And then a friend of mine who I used to work with at Exxon Mobil called me up

01:01:46.640 - 01:02:05.640

and said, ‘Hey you want to go play golf?’ I said, ‘Fine,’ and you know, just played golf, and in hindsight, now that I think about it, it's like you know he was probing if I had any interest in working. And then he brought it up of course, you

01:02:05.640 - 01:02:25.330

know, ‘Hey, I'd like to bring you back, we need somebody with your experience to help us for a period of time.’ And I said ‘no,’ I wasn't interested, but he persisted. He said ‘Join me for lunch, I’ll, I'll

01:02:26.990 - 01:02:44.840

show you some stuff that might be of interest to you.’ And we did all that, to make a long story short, I said ‘okay, I'll try it out.’ So I joined a third party company and then went back to Exxon Mobil as a consultant.

01:02:45.700 - 01:02:57.170

I cannot go directly to Exxon Mobil consultant—as a consultant, I had to go through an external party, and there's some government tax related reasons why I have to do that.

01:02:58.520 - 01:03:15.900

So I worked there for almost two years, actually a month and a half short of two years. And then they, they—at that time they were short on staff, during this two year period they started

01:03:15.900 - 01:03:30.970

slowly bringing in people. And now that they're up to the right critical mass of resources, they can handle the job themselves, they don't need me to stick around, so I said adios.

01:03:36.570 - 01:03:59.180

Um so what do you like to do in your free time? I love photography; I also do options trading. And like watching movies. I love my grandkids, spend time

01:03:59.180 - 01:04:12.200

with them, putzing around the house, I like to do things with my hands. And I spend at least an hour—an hour to an hour and a half at the gym every day. So that's how I take care of my time.

01:04:16.870 - 01:04:34.390

Have you traveled a lot? Yes. Where? Yeah. Okay, we've traveled to Norway, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Czechoslovakia,

01:04:36.920 - 01:04:51.340

Holland, Netherlands, through the countries of Europe. We traveled to China, we have traveled to Tibet, did I say Russia? We've been to St.

01:04:51.430 - 01:05:04.870

Petersburg also. I've made 15 trips to Japan, business related. Gone to Hong Kong, Singapore. We've been to Kenya, Tanzania, for a safari.

01:05:05.810 - 01:05:19.120

We've gone to Ecuador, Galapagos, Peru, Chile, Argentina. I, I think that's pretty much

01:05:25.520 - 01:05:42.800

it…and this December we're going to Antarctica. Out of curiosity, why, why Antarctica? Uh it's been a dream of my wife to go there, so we're going.

01:05:48.030 - 01:06:15.170

Alright, I guess starting to wrap up a little bit, uh what would you consider one of your biggest accomplishments so far? My two girls, that's number one. Um…making my contributions to our Zoroastrian community, to make

01:06:15.780 - 01:06:28.820

our Zoroastrian center a reality. And I think from a work standpoint, I think uh I have something north of 7 or 8 U.S.

01:06:29.010 - 01:06:46.510

patents from my work, which I'm proud of. That's pretty much it. Alright, and is there anything else you'd like to add to the archive? No. Do you have

01:06:47.900 - 01:07:01.690

any other questions? Nope. The only thing else—I consider myself very fortunate, very lucky, and very blessed to be here. That's it. Alright, well, thank you so much for your time.

01:07:02.190 - 01:07:05.000

Sure. Thank you. An hour and seven-