Gallery

SAADA creates a more inclusive society by giving voice to South Asian Americans through documenting, preserving, and sharing stories that represent their unique and diverse experiences. Learn more.

NAOMI AYOOLA'S FIRST DAY I left Nigeria, Nigeria and arrived in Durham, North Carolina in 2017.

AZHAR UMER'S FIRST DAY I left Karachi, Pakistan and arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1992.

SA’ADATU SULEIMAN'S FIRST DAY I left Nigeria, Nigeria and arrived in New York City, New York in 2016.

KOMAL SHAFIQUE'S FIRST DAY I left Rawalpindi, Pakistan and arrived in Mesa, Arizona in 2016.

TAYYABA SABIR'S FIRST DAY I left Taxila, Pakistan and arrived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 2015.

ATASHI ACHARYA'S FIRST DAY I left Bombay, India and arrived in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1967.

FIRST DAY I left Hyderabad , India and arrived in Irving, Texas in 1999.

FIRST DAY I left Hyderabad , India and arrived in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1991.

NARAYANAN MURALIKRISHNAN'S FIRST DAY "I was married recently and I had just moved here without my wife. She couldn’t get a visa and being apart thousands of miles wasn't worth all that much to me."

PONNI SIVARAMAN'S FIRST DAY I left Chennai, India and arrived in St. Louis, Missouri in 1978.

THOMAS ALLEN'S FIRST DAY I left Cochin, Kerala, India and arrived in New York City, New York in 2000.

DARAGH MCMAHON'S FIRST DAY "And I’m like “oh my god, snow!”. And at that point in my life, I’ve only been in snow, I think, only twice. So just to see it again, and to know that— it’ll now be a yearly part of my life— it was just so exciting..."

ZUHRA HUSSAINI'S FIRST DAY I left Hyderabad, India and arrived in Los Angeles, California in 1986.

SUDHA KRISHNAN'S FIRST DAY I left New Delhi, India and arrived in San Francisco, California in 2000.

SUBHALAKSHMI PARMAR 'S FIRST DAY "I used to be a busy performer in Carnatic dancing, performing at least 50-60 performances each year. Nobody knew me here, and I struggled practicing on the fourth floor of my house, with neighbors who found it disturbing and annoying."

SUBRAMANIAN KRISHNAN'S FIRST DAY I left Bombay, India and arrived in New York City, New York in 1977.

SATISH GUPTA'S FIRST DAY I left Bombay, India and arrived in New York , New York in 1972.

FIRST DAY "My parents were so called helicopter parents who took care of me for everything, and coming here, taking care of myself, paying the bills, studying for the exams, cooking for myself, it was a challenge."

SIDDESH SRIDHAR'S FIRST DAY "So that's the thing. I was surprised. I wasn't nervous, really? I was definitely kind of excited, but not like 'jumping with joy'. I was excited, but I think I was surprised, and I think it's related to where the country was at the time. "

C. MOHAN'S FIRST DAY "I’ve been very happy about the fact that I risked coming to the US as a student without financial assistance."

NAVNEETH KANNAN'S FIRST DAY "So, my friends and I actually came up with this concept called “Earlier Flight Syndrome”, which is for some reason people who had come “earlier” felt that they were, one way or another, superior to people who had come later."

KALPANA KANNAN'S FIRST DAY "There was an inherent pressure all my life that to go to America was to be something more and to stay back in India was even some type indication that you were not "good enough"."

RUPA SHAH'S FIRST DAY I left Mumbai, India and arrived in Houston, Texas in 1982.

MUNEEZA AGHA'S FIRST DAY I left London, England and arrived in Miami, Florida in 1985.

DARSHNA SHAH'S FIRST DAY I left Vadodara, India and arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 1988.

GIRISH BHAT'S FIRST DAY "And it turns that he was hanging around at the airport to recruit Indians coming fresh off the plane."

NALINI JUTHANI'S FIRST DAY "I was confused and conflicted that I was entering a country where my identity was an Other."

JOYCE TENG'S FIRST DAY I left Shanghai, China and arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1989.

NIKKI LEE'S FIRST DAY "In hindsight, we should have made more fuss but that's not how we were brought up."

SHARDA BADRI'S FIRST DAY I left Berbice, Guyana and arrived in Linden, New Jersey in 1976.

FIRST DAY I left Hyderabad, India and arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 2010.

AL-MURAD GILLANI'S FIRST DAY I left Karachi, Pakistan and arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 1978.

JUNAID BUTT'S FIRST DAY I left Rawalpindi, Pakistan and arrived in New York, New York in 1996.

AIMEN SALAM'S FIRST DAY I left Karachi, Pakistan and arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 2004.

VIRGINIA SULLIVAN'S FIRST DAY I left Panama City, Panama and arrived in New Jersey Port, New Jersey in 1964.

B.P. RAO'S FIRST DAY I left Hyderabad, India and arrived in New York, New York in 1959.

KAMINI SHAH'S FIRST DAY "Even though it was a tough transition I have grown to love this country and would make the decision to move to America again."

ROLANDO MARUCUT'S FIRST DAY "So there is no room to wiggle. If you wiggle that means the future of our family would be in jeopardy. And I cannot in my own conscience do that."

ALEX PENERANDA'S FIRST DAY "My chest was pounding, just thinking that I did something illegal and then they were arresting me."

GENERATO MERCADO'S FIRST DAY "They can speak what we call 'Bamboo English,' which is broken English. But yes, we understand."

ALAN C'S FIRST DAY "It was the first time I’ve seen a limo, first of all, so I didn’t where to ride. So I sat right next to the driver."

DELIA N'S FIRST DAY "My first impression of the US wasn’t so great. I looked around, I said to myself, 'This is America? Why, all their trees are dead!'"

PREETI SHRIDHAR'S FIRST DAY "You know, it was just magic. I was transported to a completely unreal place."

RANJANA BHATT'S FIRST DAY "So if you’re open-minded, you can conquer all the fears. You can adjust."

RITUJA INDAPURE'S FIRST DAY "I think the one that really sustained me and enriched my life was the library."

TOM SENGUPTA'S FIRST DAY "That was the glorious time in this society. Everything was full of optimism, full of new ideas, and people thought beyond themselves."

KODUMUDI (KEN) BALAJI'S FIRST DAY "But, when looking back, those days are golden days. Those days were all really carefree."

BEHERUZ SETHNA'S FIRST DAY "… anyone visiting from India knew that you gotta take this guy to lunch or dinner because he’s dying over there."

UMER PIRACHA'S FIRST DAY "‘I mean, I don’t understand, why are you so disappointed?’ I was like, “Because I have an A-, not an A!'"

SHIAMIN MELVILLE'S FIRST DAY "I remember looking around and thinking to myself, 'Oh my god there are so many foreigners here!' because there were so many white people. But then I realized that I was the foreigner."

FIRST DAY "You learn. You know, there is no need to berate oneself that, ‘I should have done this right the first time.'"

SAMATA DUTTA'S FIRST DAY "I had the best time of my life, frankly speaking. I went around to museums, I went on dates, I went alone around places and checked things out and I was doing this in the middle of the night, the middle of day, it didn’t matter."

KARNI BHATI'S FIRST DAY "I came not to make money as many people do, but... I was coming to America to acquire a lot of knowledge."

UPENDRA CHIVUKULA'S FIRST DAY "It felt like a Hollywood movie. I was tired but I think I never felt tired. I felt more excited. Goodness, I’m in America finally."

CHITRA CHANDRAN'S FIRST DAY "And every time we would come to visit his sister, we would buy all the groceries from New York, which was once in three months..."

HEZEL G'S FIRST DAY "But it was just hard because you don’t have anyone else who’s really -- worried, like genuinely worried about you, you know? It’s just… people don’t really ask you if you’re okay."

DHARA GOSALIA'S FIRST DAY "I remember being put in the ESL class even though we told them [the school administrators] that we were fluent in English since we were four years old."

VANESSA N'S FIRST DAY "Well the first impression you have when you arrive in the United States, comes from the customs."

AJAY BORDIA'S FIRST DAY "The big difference, it later turned out, was that we came with kids for the first time."

ROHAN VAIDYA'S FIRST DAY "I didn't clearly care about fashion at that time, not that I do at this time, but those orange pants definitely just stand out."

LAURA GARCIA'S FIRST DAY "It's expensive here. It's difficult to find good cheese."

SUMIT LOHIA'S FIRST DAY "The first day it started snowing, I think we were dancing in a parking lot. "

TARIQ AKMAL'S FIRST DAY "…what I was smelling was the deodorizer that was used in the floors and the concourses… I thought that this is what America smells like."

SEETHA POOVAIAH'S FIRST DAY "We went to the Empire State Building, that was the tallest building at that time. It was very interesting to see the whole of New York City."

POULAMI DAS' FIRST DAY "The first time I made some homemade food it was very simple and plain food, but both of us gorged up on it like anything."

AMIT KUMAR SINGH'S FIRST DAY "The first impression of USA was actually very nice. So… that gave us a confidence and we were very happy about that."

VIJAYA SUBRAMANIAM'S FIRST DAY "The first day seeing America it was a thrill. Everything is new and so exciting."

RAMJI SRINIVASAN'S FIRST DAY "The first American I was formally introduced and his name was Professor Herbert C. Brown and two years back he won the Nobel Prize."

SANCHITA DHAR'S FIRST DAY "In the next day, I visited LSU campus and had a lunch at McDonald's. It was amazing how I much I enjoyed eating there."

AJITH MASCARENHAS' FIRST DAY "We just, like, jumped out and ran around in the snow and then started pelting each other with snowballs..."

ABHIJIT PAUL'S FIRST DAY "One moment I was thrilled to see myself in the US, the next moment I was missing my family whom I left behind eight thousand miles away."

JASHODHARA SEN SHUART'S FIRST DAY "I was incredibly indebted to Wikipedia to give me positive overview about Oklahoma State University."

TATIANA BEREZNIKOVA'S FIRST DAY "I noticed that people smiled at strangers a lot. I thought it was so weird. I didn't know them and they didn't know me but they smiled at me anyway."

NADIA RAMIREZ'S FIRST DAY "I just wanted to see my dad. We are really close and it was the first time being without him for so long. He moved in September. My mom, sister, and I joined in December. I was only a kid; I just wanted my dad."

ANNA LI'S FIRST DAY "I remember just going to the riverside and walking to a giant Toys R Us…. But I didn't get any toys. I spent that month in Brooklyn just reading the Chinese fairy tale books I bought from China."

PRISCILLA SESHIE'S FIRST DAY "Five days after my arrival, the tragedy of 9/11 occurred. Since I was still so young, I wondered if such chaos and destruction…happened frequently in the US."

SRUTIKA S'S FIRST DAY "… [w]hatever image you have of a place… honestly think and have a look at what kind of society it is for all the people who live in it."

SHIVA PRASAD REDDY'S FIRST DAY "Their accent was so thick I had no idea it was English."

SUREKHA VASHI'S FIRST DAY "It was quite a long time before we reached him, and my sister was saying, 'Let’s go back. We’re not staying here!'"

KRISHNAMOORTHY SUBRAMANIAN'S FIRST DAY "After some sleep there was the morning sun and the beginning of my rest of the long journey of life here in the USA."

TIANYI SHENG'S FIRST DAY "Both my roommate and I were very confused. Hang out? What does that mean?"

RACHEL CHACKO'S FIRST DAY "They gave me some instructions. If anyone rings the doorbell do not open it."

BINDIGANAVALE RAMAPRASAD'S FIRST DAY "I never regretted immigrating to the United States and given a chance I will do it all over again."

MIR BASIR'S FIRST DAY "In between, I also worked in an ice cream store, and that was very different. I didn’t know what a sundae was."

DIPANKAR SENGUPTA'S FIRST DAY "The panorama was serene, almost spiritual calming my stresses from the last few days of facing the unknown."

BOBBY CHACKO'S FIRST DAY "On the other hand seeing my mom again was very emotional, since my mom and brother had left us in India 6 months before."

RASHNA BATLIWALA SINGH'S FIRST DAY "The sun was beginning to set, and the deepening shadows outside compounded my unease. I did not know where to go or what to do."

KAILASH JOSHI'S FIRST DAY "We had not much money, we had only eight bucks in our pocket, we didn't have a scholarship, but we never thought about "hey, what happens if things don't work out?""

PAVI JAISANKAR'S FIRST DAY "There was a Dunkin' Donuts in Thailand so I was used to that, but I had never seen a bagel before and so I was really curious."

RAJ PILLAI'S FIRST DAY "What I remember most is how I was overdressed. We were all in our wool suits and it was a hot day."

FIRST DAY "And there’s nothing on there, no greenery, no nothing, just fields! Everywhere."

RAMCHANDRA DESAI'S FIRST DAY "When he came out, he gave me a little booklet, 'Welcome to the United States.' I still remember that, this old fellow. It was a wonderful feeling."

MOLLA ANAM'S FIRST DAY "When I arrived, Bangladesh had just achieved independence. And most of the countries of the world, they did not even recognize Bangladesh."

MEHRIN MASUD-ELIAS' FIRST DAY "What if I forgot to pack the essentials / all those years ago?"

PANKAJ MALLICK'S FIRST DAY "So I stayed at the hotel all night without eating anything, completely tired and hungry, because of the fact that I didn't know where I was and they had told me not to go out at night."

NIRUPAMA RAO'S FIRST DAY "I had studied and learned so much about the United States while growing up and during my student years I studied American Literature."

MAMATA MISRA'S FIRST DAY "I understood the language, the words, but not the topics or the context, not enough to join in the conversation, or even ask a question."

DASHINI JEYATHURAI'S FIRST DAY "I remember the air smelling really different. And I know it sounds weird to say that, but American air smelled different."

PREMLATA VAISHNAVA'S FIRST DAY "I was extremely shocked to think that there could be a house without sugar?"

SAKTI KUNZ'S FIRST DAY "Newly wed, I arrived in all my finery. Silk saree, new sandals, some of my jewellery on, some tucked away carefully with my green card in my purse."

TARIQ ABBAS' FIRST DAY "I had no concept of what Dallas was. I only knew of New York. I only wanted to go to New York. "

DIVYA HEMMIGE'S FIRST DAY "The way they embraced us with love is truly a memorable experience which gave me the kind of strength which was much needed at that time frame."

SUDIN BHATTACHARYA'S FIRST DAY "He was probably driving at 50 miles per hour, but that felt very fast. Cars in Calcutta don't usually get to drive that fast."

SWATANTRA PIDARA'S FIRST DAY "On the night of 27th August 1968 my father's friend dropped me at Bombay airport and I took the Air India flight to London via Beirut, Frankfurt, Paris and I had to change the plane for the next part of the journey to the USA."

SADRUDDIN NOORANI'S FIRST DAY "We were anchored outside the port, about maybe three miles away from the port. The captain told us that we don’t know how long we would be there."

BASDEO MANGAL'S FIRST DAY "When I arrived in America here I said to myself that I'm finished with this type of worshiping."

SAGHIR QUERESHI'S FIRST DAY "I arrived at Urbana Champaign, Illinois. It seemed so wide open, and wide roads, and a lot of cars, and it was scary."

SHAISTA SHAMSHAD'S FIRST DAY "It's amazing and confusing to think of what doors were opened and how many were closed that day we arrived."

FIRST DAY "I came here because I got married, and he lived here. I switched continents for this guy, and I came to New Jersey."

SUMANA RANGACHAR'S FIRST DAY "It was a cold February day, and the first time in my short two and a half years of life that I felt that cold."

AMRITJIT SINGH'S FIRST DAY "And also Hawaii, culturally and socially, felt so much closer to India so I didn't even notice the difference."

MADHURA KADABA'S FIRST DAY "I remember that I wore a tie-and-dye cotton Kurti with jeans pants. I also remember groggily overhearing a couple looking at me and using the word "Gypsy" several times."

MADAN VASISHTA'S FIRST DAY "They asked me things like "Do you ride an elephant to go to school?" "Do you live with monkeys?" Those kinds of questions."

DINESH SHAH'S FIRST DAY "No one told me that I should have converted some rupees in dollars at Mumbai Airport. I had no idea that rupees had no value outside India!"

SARMISTHA BHATTACHARJYA'S FIRST DAY "My first impression was that it looked like a fairy tale... I felt a sense of freedom, though there was both fear and joy in the back of my mind."

SUNANDA MALLICK'S FIRST DAY "I never walked on an escalator before so I was scared to walk into it, but it was very much fun."

VINOD MEHTA'S FIRST DAY "Suddenly, I found myself all alone. There was nothing around the ship except the sea."

AJOY BHATTACHARJYA'S FIRST DAY "When the plane flew above Labrador the skipper again came and pleasantly advised me to survive on fish if the plane crashed on the snow covered ground."

NAHID KHATAW'S FIRST DAY "And we're so blessed... we're so blessed to be here."

LATIKA MANGRULKAR'S FIRST DAY "Two continents away from home, across many seas, as the plane circled New York I began to feel apprehensive, suddenly fear overcame me."

ABHA SHUKLA'S FIRST DAY "But what I can tell you is my parents actually moved back to India when I was 10 because my dad said "I was just here to study. I'm moving back. Degrees will help my country." He was very patriotic, so we all moved back."

ALI KHATAW'S FIRST DAY "And then you come over and then suddenly it's a different environment and you don't have a single friend. I mean zero. Zilch."

TAHRAT NAUSHABA SHAHID'S FIRST DAY "I kind of understood the term ‘thundering silence’ for the first time. ‘Cause, where I grew up, I used to hear rickshaws ting-tinging outside and prostitutes fighting and things, you know? And now, nothing. Just quiet!"

ZAKIRH PARPIA'S FIRST DAY "And he says, "and you left Bombay to see the world and you came to Pullman?!" He says, "you know, the world is Bombay not Pullman.""

SUNIL PURI'S FIRST DAY "There happened to be one other Pakistani student who was the closest in culture at that time to me and we made a bond that I'll never forget, even though we came from countries where traditionally they were rivals."

LOVLEEN GILL'S FIRST DAY "There are all kinds of people. Nobody’s bad in general, but it’s just where your hearts meet."

ARDESHIR DALAL'S FIRST DAY "You know, you come from India… I had come with two suitcases. One had clothes and shoes and things like that, and one had books."

FAROOQ KATHWARI'S FIRST DAY "Shortly after I turned 21, I left my home in war-torn Kashmir and headed for America where I planned to start a new life..."

SHANTA KOTECHA'S FIRST DAY "My husband came home from work and said, 'What’s going on?' And I said, 'I don’t know, this is America!'"

DILSHAD M. SHAHID'S FIRST DAY "It was not a very happy day for me, because I had wanted to remain in the UK and attend Guy’s Hospital Medical School, which was a place I had wanted to go to ever since I was ten – I wanted to be a doctor like my dad."

CYNTHIA ANITA GILL'S FIRST DAY "In the fresh optimism of our arrival, it seemed like the landscape was reaching out to welcome us to America, full of opportunities to follow our dreams."

ASHWIN GHATALIA'S FIRST DAY "It was so late that I was above draft, so I thank the government of India and its bureaucracy forever."

FERDOUS AL-FARUQUE'S FIRST DAY "Unfortunately, the shuttle bus company said that all those items were gone, they couldn’t find it, so it was a pretty miserable experience there to start off with."

NAZAR HAYAT TIWANA'S FIRST DAY "Landing in New York was something totally different – the huge skyscrapers, the ‘hustle and bustle,’ the speed of life was like a totally different world opening up to us when compared to London or pre-partition India."

C.M. NAIM'S FIRST DAY "It was a date in mid-September, 1957, when the Pan Am round-the-world flight I had caught in Calcutta reached San Francisco."

RAVI KRISHNAMURTHY'S FIRST DAY "Pizza was the life saver. Order a pizza and six of us share.. one slice each!"

SAMIRA RAHMATULLAH'S FIRST DAY "It was a pleasant experience, not at all traumatic or surprising."

SUJIT DATTA'S FIRST DAY "… I saw thousands of cars in the parking lot all covered by snow. I thought, wow, all the cars must be dead by now."

SHAJI CHACKO'S FIRST DAY "Later on, I came to realize that in America there are four distinct seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter."

FIRST DAY "It all looked alien; I had left my family and friends back in India."

SHYAMA HALDAR'S FIRST DAY "But in the US, I lost that. The first year I came, I did not know many people. I was thinking to go back, because I love my culture."

KARTHIK SETHURAMAN'S FIRST DAY "Some students even learned to sign just to communicate with me! What an incredible feeling!"

DHIRAJ MUCHHAL'S FIRST DAY "… turns out Dallas is a concrete city, and not green."

SUMAN PODDAR'S FIRST DAY "I consider this my country now, and this is my home."

RAJ DESAI'S FIRST DAY "What will my wife and two kids think about this move? And how will they adjust whilst I'm going to be busy at work?"

RASHI BAHERIA'S FIRST DAY "I was so excited to see beautiful hill and valleys and whatnot. Well, we were driving and I saw nothing but buildings and buildings."

UTPAL DUTTA'S FIRST DAY "He told me this is the best food and I would keep eating it."

SMITA KOTHARI'S FIRST DAY "And when we exited the airport, I looked all around and saw rows upon rows of cars! I couldn't figure out where were all the people - there wasn't a soul in sight!"

JAMSHED GHADIALI'S FIRST DAY "In retrospect, sounds funny, but was scary that day."

BERNARD DESPOT'S FIRST DAY "When I first came to this country one of my first memories was of the street vendors, selling souvlaki and the gyros."

THOMAS ABRAHAM'S FIRST DAY "We could see a lot of Moonies (followers of Sun Myung Moon) and Hare Krishnas trying to recruit followers for their movement."

SARWARE SITA TIWANA'S FIRST DAY "It was in Illinois that I became a US citizen, some thirty years after I first stepped foot into the US."

ROSE MOHESS' FIRST DAY "The apartment was disgusting but we had no choice but to stay there until we found somewhere else comfortable."

FIRST DAY "I had was thinking about the future that what can I do? And I was very happy because I knew that I will find new friends with different ideas and I will see new places."

SRINIVASAN NAMAKKAL'S FIRST DAY "My first impression [of Minnesota] was you didn’t really need a refrigerator; you could put your milk and stuff outside the window! Which was fine!"

NAYOMI DISSANYAKE'S FIRST DAY "The apartment is small, but the refrigerator is very big."

MAGANBHAI PATEL'S FIRST DAY "I saw in our car a new thing, a GPS. The GPS was announcing where and when to turn right or left and how far away our home was. It wasn't necessary to ask any person."

PREMA RAGHAVAN'S FIRST DAY "My daughter in law and all were waiting with garland and all for my first time."

HARI BHANDARI'S FIRST DAY "My entire childhood was spent in one of the seven UN camps for Bhutanese refugees. We came here because we are Bhutanese Nepalis and the Nepali government didn’t give us citizenship, so we came to the U.S.A. to work, get an education and have citizenship for the first time in our lives."

DAMINI MEHTA'S FIRST DAY "I was so anxious to come to this country the answer was a no brainer for me. Of course I would like to settle in America. "

BRIJ SINGH'S FIRST DAY "As soon as I got out of the airport, there was bad smell in the air - hard to breathe - never had experience in India."

RANI GOEL'S FIRST DAY "I feel very good that this is the country that I can live every second of my life."

ROSHNI DESPOT'S FIRST DAY "But then we got used to American dishes. My kids love American food."

FIRST DAY "In my first semester, I finished the money given to me for the year. I was not extravagant. So I worked in a Chinese restaurant two nights a week to make pocket money for extras such as personal items and clothing/shoes."

K.G. GOEL'S FIRST DAY "Everything that I saw I compared to India. It was something, a different world altogether."

DEEPAK SINGH'S FIRST DAY "It reminded me of a scene from some Hollywood movie where a newcomer in New York is gaping at advertisements covering the whole length of a building."

SHAMIM SHAHI'S FIRST DAY "So, in these circumstances, we decided to remain in this country: We became immigrants not by choice but by destiny!"

ANDY JOSHI'S FIRST DAY "My first eight years of life were in England, and the real culture shock actually was moving back to India at age eight."

JAEL SILLIMAN'S FIRST DAY "My transition from student to immigrant opened my eyes to another America."

SATISH WALIA'S FIRST DAY "I can’t explain how I felt when I picked up my son, it was the best experience of my life, holding my son in my own hands."

KASTURI PATEL'S FIRST DAY "So, this is the land of opportunity and I’m pretty much red, blue, white right now."

SHEFALI RAZDAN DUGGAL'S FIRST DAY "And at that point that was his goal... he wanted to get to Cincinnati, Ohio!"