Model Minority

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project © Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project © Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project View all images ↓
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  • Dates
    2013 - 2014
  • Author
  • Topics Contemporary Issues, Editorial, Documentary
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India is unique in the magnitude of diversity from languages to food and style of dress, which is also reflected in her diaspora communities.

India is unique in the magnitude of diversity in terms of languages and regions, religions and sects, castes and sub-castes, rural and urban, food and style of dress, which are also reflected by her diaspora communities.

Today, the Indian diaspora in the United States is quite large and diverse in terms of education, occupation, income, regions of origin, religion etc. One of the most important factors affecting the size, growth, composition, and distribution of the Indian American population in the United States is immigration. While many other ethnic minorities are mostly subject to purely negative clichés, Indian Americans have largely been seen as a model minority. Indians are said to embrace certain values like self-discipline, diligence and persistency that enable immigrants from India to achieve their goals.

In Columbia, Missouri, a Midwestern college town with a population of around 100,000, roughly 1% of the population is of Indian origin. Education plays an important role in these Indian households as most of the adults in these families migrated to the United States in pursuit of higher education, they have now passed their penchant for education onto their children. This body of work highlights some of the aforementioned characteristics and also attempts to shed light on some of the cultural and familial aspects of the Indian American community.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Akhil, 10, was born in the United States and is the second child of Dr. Elangovan Balakrishnan, a practicing hematologist-oncologist at Missouri Cancer Associates, and Abirami Elangovan, a stay-at-home mother. He is a fourth grader at Mill Creek Elementary School, Columbia, Missouri and has been a part of the Gifted Education (EEE) program since second grade. He learns tennis, chess, and piano. This picture was taken when he attended swimming classes summer of 2013 at MizzouRec, an on-campus recreational facility at MU. Dr. Elangovan Balakrishnan, Akhil's father, came to El Paso, Texas to do his residency in internal medicine in 1995. After completing his residency program, he did an oncology fellowship in Houston. He then moved to Guam, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, in 2001 and started working as an oncologist before moving to Columbia in 2004. He married Abirami Elangovan in India in 1998 and brought her to the United States. She is a homemaker. Although Dr. Balakrishnan moved to this country for obtaining higher education and work experience, he does not have any definite plans to move back to India. The couple feel that life in the United States is better suited to the overall development of their two U.S.-born sons, Ashwath, 14, and Akhil, 9. They feel that the children enjoy a lot more freedom here and living in the United States has made the family, as a whole, more self-reliant.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Matthan Tharakan, 13, is a passionate tennis player and devotes up to four hours every day to learning tennis. He was ranked No. 2 in the Missouri Valley region in the Boys’ 12 Singles category not very long ago. The “tennis ball chair” that Matthan is sitting in was made by his mother. Matthan is also musically gifted and plays a variety of instruments. Dr. Ajit Tharakan, Matthan's father, is currently the chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery at the University Hospital, Columbia, Missouri. He has been serving in this position since 2009, having done his residency in general surgery from 2003 to 2006. He is married to Rinu Tharakan. The Tharakans came to Columbia in 2003 and then left for Boston in 2006 for three years after Mr. Tharakan got a fellowship from the Massachusetts General Hospital in thoracic surgery. Both Mr. Tharakan and Ms. Tharakan come from wealthy families and the reason they came to the United States was primarily for Mr. Tharakan's higher education. Ms. Tharakan, despite having a degree in medicine, made the decision to be a stay-at-home mother in order to better look after her children, Matthan Tharakan and Anna Tharakan, 12. The Tharakans' long-term goals are to improve healthcare and its delivery in developing countries.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Ms. Kusum Chandrapal, an octogenarian, sings along with other devotees at a 'bhajan' (devotional song) session in Shanthi Mandir - a community hall and a place of worship for Indian American residents in Columbia. Ms. Chandrapal, Dr. Meera Chandrasekhar’s mother, has been living with her daughter and son-in-law, Dr. H. R. Chandrasekhar, in Columbia ever since her husband passed away in 1995. She spends three days a week at MU Adult Day Connection, an adult day care center, enjoying the company of other participants.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Saatvik Kannan, 8, waits for his opponent, Shenice Andrea Watkins (not in the frame), to make her move at the Parkade Open on Dec. 7 at Parkade Plaza, Columbia. Though, Saatvik lost this match, he was eventually placed first in his age category in the tournament. He is in second grade and is passionate about computers and learns chess and attends Kumon, an afterschool math and reading program. Saatvik's father, Raghuraman Kannan, is a faculty member in the department of radiology and bioengineering at the University of Missouri. He came to the United States in 2000 after earning his Ph.D. Anandhi Upendran, Mr. Raghuraman Kannan's wife joined him two months after he first set foot in this country. Ms. Upendran serves as the director of Nanoparticle Biochem, Inc., a private nanoparticle-based research company, and is also an adjunct faculty member in the physics department at MU. She holds a doctoral degree as well. The Kannans moved to the United States immediately after marriage and the prime reason for their decision to come to the United States was that they felt opportunities for someone with a Ph.D. in India are far and few between compared to the West. They zeroed in on the United States specifically for its great infrastructure and support systems for carrying out research. They did not plan on staying here for long but all the three members of the Kannan household hold U.S. citizenships now. They are not looking to move back to India as their son's education is their top priority and feel that moving back would put a lot of stress on him and hinder his academic progress. In addition, they also do not want to risk their careers by trying to re-establish themselves in India, a country they have been out of touch with (professionally) for the last 15 years.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Dr. Smritha Dorairajan, Dr. Anand Chockalingam's spouse, is a trained Bharatanatyam (one of the many Indian classical dances) dancer. In this picture, she is seen training a group of young girls at her residence to perform at India Nite, an annual cultural extravaganza organized by the members of Cultural Association of India, an MU student organization, every Fall. She also holds dance classes once every week at her residence and has performed for the public in the United States on many occasions.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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A reflection of Dr. Meera Chandrasekhar, a Physics professor at MU, working on a PowerPoint presentation on Spectroscopy for her class, is seen on her computer monitor at her office. She is the recipient of the Baylor University’s 2014 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching and will be teaching on campus at Baylor University in the Fall of 2015. Ms. Chandrasekhar came to the United States to pursue her doctoral studies at the Brown University in 1970 and received her Ph.D. in 1976. She also went to the Max Planck Institute for her post-doctoral research and met Mr. Holalkere R. Chandrasekhar and they got married in 1976. In 1977, while still in Germany, Mr. Chandrasekhar was asked to give a lecture by the chair of the physics department at the University of Missouri and subsequently was offered a faculty position in the physics department. The Chandrasekhars moved to Columbia in 1978. Ms. Chandrasekhar was offered a faculty position in the physics department in 1983 and both of them have been teaching at MU since. Having spent the majority of their lives in the United States, they have no plans of moving back to India. They have three daughters, two of them twins, born and raised in the United States who have now settled all around the country.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Dr. Anand Chockalingam is a practicing cardiologist at the University Hospital, Columbia, Missouri. Chockalingam arrived in the United States in 1997 for a residency program in Pittsburgh and returned to India in 2000 to do a cardiology fellowship and got married to Dr. Smrita Dorairajan, who is now working as a nephrologist in Columbia. Quality education was always the motive for the Chockalingams to come to the United States. In fact, Dr. Dorairajan was training as a pediatrician in India when Dr. Chockalingam decided to move to the United States as he felt studying and working in this country would provide the couple especially, Dr. Dorairajan, a varied clinical exposure and potential for engaging in research work. Dr. Chockalingam started practicing as a cardiologist when the couple moved to Charleston, W.Va. in 2004 with their son, Kavin Anand, who was 3 years old at that time. Dr. Dorairajan began her internal medicine residency in 2005. The family relocated to Columbia in 2006 and Dr. Dorairajan continued with her residency program and was awarded a fellowship in nephrology in 2008. She has been practicing as a nephrologist at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital since 2010. Although life in United States has taught them to juggle personal and professional lives successfully, they still value Indian traditions and culture. Their plan is to go back to India once their son, Kavin, 12, finishes high school. They are afraid that moving now would negatively impact his education. Kavin is passionate about tennis and music. He plays piano and has been learning violin from his maternal great grandmother since he was six. They also have a daughter, Laya Anand, four, who is in preschool and loves ballet. The Chockalingams plan to use their skills acquired in the United States to help improve the health of the underprivileged in Chennai when they eventually return to India.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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A reflection of an exhausted Matthan is seen in the mirror. He and his sister get up early in the morning two days a week for their violin classes (before school) at their violin tutor Mr. Zhenlai Qian's house.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Anna Matthan, 12, is a voracious reader and is a regular patron of the public library - Daniel Boone Regional Library - in Columbia. She writes short stories in her free time and learns tennis and violin.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Akhil Elangovan (left) & Ashwath Elangovan, 14, learn chess from Mr. Timothy Campbell, coach, Mid Missouri Chess Academy at their house Tuesday evening, Sept. 24, 2013. They have two tutoring sessions every week. Ashwath is studying in eighth grade at the Columbia Independent School. He is a seeded tennis player in the Missouri Valley region in the Boys’ 14 Singles category. Ashwath holds a black belt in taekwondo and has been learning piano for the last six years. In addition, he is part of his school’s Science Olympiad team and attended the Duke University's Talent Identification Program (TIP) summer of 2013.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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The entire Patel household, along with a few select friends, celebrates the third birthday of the Patels’ twin boys, Aadit Patel and Anuj Patel, at their house Sunday evening, Feb. 16. Nitu Patel, the boys’ mother, came to Michigan City, In. in 2000 to work as a medical technologist in a hospital based in Chicago. Her husband, Hiren Patel, joined her and their U.S.-born elder daughter, Mansi Patel, 13, in 2009 in Columbia after she had relocated here the previous year to work at the University Hospital. Ms. Patel is also working towards getting her master’s degree in health administration at MU. Mr. Patel owns two liquor stores, Columbia Liquor and Eagle Liquor, in the city apart from managing his father’s chemical, hardware, pharmaceuticals, and real estate enterprise in Uganda during summer.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Model Minority photography project
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Saatvik Kannan is engaged in a game of laser tag with friends after his birthday celebrations Sunday evening, Feb. 9 at Lazer Lanes, family entertainment center, Columbia.

Model Minority by Naveen P M

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