Salwant Multani: A One Way Ticket from India to America

Who is Salwant Multani? 

Salwant Multani is a 50 year old Indian woman who immigrated from India. She made the big move from her hometown of Chandigarh in India to San Francisco in 1990 at the age of 24. In the following videos, we will be able to learn more about Salwant's life in India, as well as her transition from Indian to American culture.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction to Salwant

II. Education in India

III. Immigration and Employment

IV. Life in America

V. Indian and American Identity 

Introduction

In this video, Salwant Multani introduces herself and she gives us a brief explanation about what it was like being raised in India. She discusses what a typical day in the life was like for her and she talks a bit about her family. 

Education in India

In this segment, Salwant shares her education experience in India. She emphasizes the importance of going to school and she discusses the differences between education in India and America. She also talks about her journey through college, including how she knew what career she wanted to pursue and her hopes of becoming a nurse. Salwant also explains how she wanted to be a stenographer for a short period of time.

Salwant (top row, 5th student) and her fellow classmates from her stenography class in India.

After she graduated college, Salwant and her stenography professor and classmates went to Himachal Pradesh, a tourist destination. While she was there, she dressed up in traditional Kulumanali clothing and she went to a famous temple. 

Immigration and Employment

Salwant discusses the story of why she wanted to move to America with her husband. Along with moving to a different country came great pain, as she was leaving behind all her family in India; however, she explains how her parents encouraged her to take the leap and move across the world. Upon arriving to America, Salwant discusses whether the reality of the country lived up to her expectations. She also mentions how she maintains relationships with her family in India. 

"Between 2000 and 2010, California's Asian Indian population increased 68 percent, gathering fourth place in the states ranking of Asian immigrant groups. Although their presence in the state dates back to the 19th century, Asian Indian began arriving in large numbers in 1990. Legislation passed in 1990 and 2000 increased the number of visas issued to students and highly educated, skilled workers, spurring the recent sustained immigration." -Competing Visions A History of California (432, Cherny)

Life in America

Moving to a country that is completely foreign may be a lot to take in at once. Salwant decided to share the biggest change that she experienced when she first landed at the Los Angeles airport. She also talks about the difficulties of raising three children when her husband was the only one working in the family. Although it was very challenging, she concludes on a happy note by explaining the positive affects that moving to America had on her children.

Salwant and her husband Dalvinder are pictured playing with their first son in Sunnyvale. 

This was just 10 days after Salwant moved to America.

Indian and American Identity

Salwant delves into the topic of how it is extremely difficult to live away from her birthplace and how she longs to visit her family in India. She mentions how she views India differently now that she has lived in America for so long; moreover, since she has lived here for about 25 years, she feels that she has a new American identity but claims that she will always be Indian. Salwant also emphasizes that she really tries to keep her culture alive in America through various practices. 

"You know that your family will always be there... You also know that if things don't work out in the outside world, you can always come home and mommy and daddy will always take you and your children in... Asian parents take care of their children." -We Don't Sleep Around Like White Girls Do: Family, Culture, and Gender in Filipina American Lives (422, Yen Le Espiritu) This relates to how Salwant spoke about feeling the need to stay in America in order to guide her children. She wants to continue living here in case her children need extra support at anytime in their lives.

"At the beginning of the new century in California, with its large immigrant population, contained a greater diversity of religious sects and denominations than any other state in the nation and kept a secure hold on its reputation as a leading source of new cultural developments." -Competing Visions A History of California (458, Cherny)

Salwant still practices her Sikh religion in America: she is pictured here in traditional Indian clothing at a Gurdwara (temple).

"Beginning with California's first people, cultural diversity has been an integral part of the human landscape. Wave after wave of migrants and immigrants, the emergence of ethnic enclaves, and the birth of numerous subcultures have added additional layers of richness, and at times produced interesting cultural fusions. As a consequence, the state's cuisine, music, art, architecture, folklore, cinema, theater, dance, and public spaces all carry the imprint of its incredibly diverse and increasingly complex picture of ethnic and national groups." -Competing Visions A History of California (XIV, Cherny)

Cherny, Robert W., Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, and Richard Griswold Del Castillo. Competing Visions: A History of California. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Print.

Espiritu, Yen Le. "“We Don’t Sleep Around Like White Girls Do”Family, Culture, and Gender in Filipina American Lives." Gender and U.S. ImmigrationContemporary Trends (2003): 263-84. Web.