For us at India Home, March has been a month for advocacy on behalf of our seniors. Dr. K and Meera from India Home went back at City Hall on March 9th to advocate for more funding for Asian Americans (yes, we fall under that umbrella). The advocacy day was organized by the Coalition for Asian American Children & Families…
About 65 years ago, the young people of Bangladesh rose up to demand that Bangla be one of the official languages of, what was then, East Pakistan. Students marched in the streets, peacefully protesting for the right to their own language. On February 21, 1952, in an incident that would change the course of the protests, the police shot dead marching students from…
Dr. Vasundhara Kalasapudi, the Excecutive Director of India Home, met with New York’s First Lady Chirlane McCray, to advocate for better senior services for South Asians on January 19, 2016. The First Lady met with leaders from Asian American community organizations to talk about ThriveNYC: A Mental Health Roadmap for All, a plan of action that will help the city…
Susanna Pereyra of Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) visited India Home’s Desi Senior Center on Thursday, February 4, to talk about how citizenship rules were different for older immigrants. Some Exceptions Those who are 50 years old or above at the time of filing for naturalization and have held a green card for 20 years are exempt from the…
India Home’s seniors became stars of DFTA’s popular campaign called Stylin’ Seniors. They were even featured on DFTA’s masthead for a whole week. Then today, DNAinfo did a feature on us saying: “Ten seniors volunteered to take part in the photo series, some dressing in traditional clothing. India Home provided a makeup artist and DFTA’s photographer, Richard Henry, took…
In this regular feature we interview our seniors for insights into the life they’ve lived. This month we talked to Mr. T.D. Chawla. T.D. Chawla is 98 years old. Yes, two years short of a century. He has experienced some of the great historical events of the past years : the British Raj, the Partition of the Indian sub-continent, the World…
New York City’s Commissioner for Immigrant Affairs, Nisha Agarwal, visited India Home’s Desi Senior Center on December 2, 2015, on the occasion of First Year Anniversary of the center. Councilman Rory Lancman and the Consul General for Bangladesh, Shammem Ashan, as well as Dr. Wahedur Rahman, the President of Jamaica Muslim Center, were also invited guests. Help for immigrant seniors Commissioner…
Sunnyside Community Center celebrations Diwali may be celebrated for only a few days in the year in India, but for our seniors the festivities have lasted all month long. The Festival was launched with a grand celebration at Sunnyside Community Center. Our member Usha Mehta, spearheaded the planning and execution with a little help from her friends. We had fun decorating the space with…
In this regular feature we interview our seniors for insights into the life they’ve lived. This month we talked to Mr. Benjamin Samson. Benjamin Samson, 72, likes to make people laugh. A Jewish member of India Home’s center at Queens Community House at Kew Gardens, Benjamin likes to tease people and crack jokes. He was born in Mumbai, India, and came to New…
“There is neither Hindu nor Mussulman (Muslim), but only man. So whose path shall I follow? I shall follow God’s path. God is neither Hindu nor Mussulman and the path which I follow is God’s.” Thus said Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion. According to the calendar Sikhs follow, his birthday falls this year on November 25th…
