Subtitle: Three Immigrant Families and Their Passage from India to America
Author: S. Mitra Kalita
Subject: General Interest/Asian American Studies/New Jersey and the Region
Paper ISBN 978-0-8135-3665-1
Cloth ISBN 978-0-8135-3318-6
Pages: 176 pp.

View the table of contents for Suburban Sahibs
Read an excerpt from Suburban Sahibs

Description: The compelling stories of three South Asian immigrant families in America

Praise for Suburban Sahibs

"An intimate, layered account of how three Indian families from Middlesex County pursued their American Dream."-The Times

"The book also traces the evolution of a suburb-its changing ethnographiccharacter, the struggles of its new inhabitants for acceptance and opportunity and gradually, their ascent through politics to a status of parity with other Americans."-India Abroad

"An insightful book. . . journalist S. Mitra Kalita looks at this transformation from the inside, and from a micro perspective, through the lives of three immigrant families in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Amazingly what emerges through the prism of their narratives is a much broader portrait of life in suburban America."-India Tribune

"If one is in the mood for an informative read in a light-hearted capsule, then this is the one to go for."-Biz India

"Carefully interspersing past histories with current facts, Kalita expertly chronicles the lives of the families she follows."-Little India

"Suburban Sahibs is a wonderful piece of journalism and a long overdue book. It grants New Jersey, specifically Edison, the rightful place as the launching pad for many an immigrant."-Little India

"Puts a human face on India's massive diaspora, and shows how varied its experience can be even in one American locality."-The Telegraph (Kolkata)

"Following the standards of the best narrative non-fiction, Kalita is an unobtrusive reporter, economical with her prose and astute in her observations."-The Hindu

"Modest in scope, but as shapely as fiction and as timely as this morning's newspaper, this book is an informative one to read for pleasure."-New York Times and International Herald Tribune (published in both papers)

"Adding a new dimension to the complex patterns of immigration that are fast changing life in the metropolitan area nationwide, Kalita's book focuses largely on Middlesex, NJ, where the Indian population has more than doubled in the past decade, reflecting a large regional influx."-Newsday

"Drawing on two years of research and her own childhood memories . . . Kalita details the ambivalence immigrants feel about where home is and the comforting, but also suffocating, effect of finding so much of India in sprawling suburbs an hour's commute from New York City."-New York Times

"In the book, which reads like a cross between a sociological study and a novel, Kalita explores how these families navigate the American Dream as it plays out in the suburbs. . . . Kalita manages to personalize statistics, attaching meaning to potentially dry numbers by linking them to complicated lives."-Home News Tribune

"Journalist S. Mitra Kalita has captured the story of the Patel family, along with those of the Kotharis and the Sharmas in.a fascinating new book that seamlessly blends comprehensive historical research with heart-tugging, often funny, vignettes of desi life from three different points on the Indian American socioeconomic spectrum."-India-West

"What Kalita has done in Suburban Sahibs is delve deep into the heart of a community often dubbed the 'model minority' for its high median income and educational accomplishments. And in the process she has made the community much more human."-San Francisco Chronicle

"S. Mitra Kalita's Suburban Sahibs is a wonderfully crafted story of the personal struggles and victories of three immigrant families from South Asia living in the New Jersey suburbs. Amazingly, what emerges through the prism of their narratives is a much broader portrait of life in America today. Beautifully written-a book to be enjoyed by all."-Bill Bradley, U.S. senator from New Jersey, 1979-1996

"Kalita is a young second-generation Indian American. Her work explains what it means to be both Indian and American today. The portraits in these pages are discerning and empathetic-and we are introduced to a new generation that instead of looking back is looking around itself."-Amitava Kumar, author of Passport Photos and Bombay-London-New York.

This book sheds new light on the pursuit of the American dream for the estimated 1.7 million Indians living in the United States. Suburban Sahibs delves into how immigration has altered the American suburb, and how the suburb, in turn, has altered the immigrant.

America has long been a destination for newcomers seeking better lives. In recent years, immigration by South Asians to the United States has increased dramatically, doubling between the 1990 and 2000 censuses. Unlike most of the European immigrants of the last century, however, many South Asians are moving directly to the suburbs rather than settling in large cities.

S. Mitra Kalita focuses on three waves of modern-day immigration through the stories of three families: the Kotharis, Patels, and Sarmas. Readers learn why these families decided to leave India, experience the tensions they encountered upon their arrival in the U.S., and witness the realities of life here for South Asians.

Middlesex County, New Jersey, is home to one of the largest Indian populations in the world outside India. Their mark on the region has been gradual but increasingly visible: auto-repair outlets named after "Deepa" and "Singh," a thriving commercial strip of sari stores and sweet shops, and valedictorians named Patel and Shah. The reception from long-time residents has not been entirely welcoming-Indian American shopkeepers regularly contend with vandalism. Yet, as Indians achieve economic success, their desire for political and social parity grows stronger and their acceptance in the U.S. is less of a question and more of a reality.

The experiences of South Asians described in these pages offer a window into what America has become: a nation of suburbs as well as a nation of immigrants.

S. Mitra Kalita, a former Newsday writer, is an education reporter for the Washington Post. The daughter of immigrants from the Indian state of Assam, Kalita has lived in Washington, New York, Puerto Rico, and the suburbs of New Jersey. She serves as president of the South Asian Journalists Association.