Increasing Indians in Grand Forks

Indians have emerged as the fastest growing community in Grand Forks, writes Lalit K Jha.

Not many years ago, it was really difficult to find a Hindi-speaking Indian in Grand Forks, the picturesque little town near the US -Canada border.

Till a few years ago, even local residents were not much aware about India and its people, even as the region has considerable population of tribal American-Indians in reservations spread across North Dakota.

This does not seem to be the case now. In the past few years, Indians have emerged as the fastest growing community in Grand Forks, the city that is known for its higher studies through the University of North Dakota and the US Air Force Base having nuclear war-heads.

People speaking Indian languages including Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati could be found at shopping malls, cinema theatre, post offices and other public places.

It is not only the small Indian community, but also the local population like bus drivers, those working in malls and several Americans could be seen speaking or pronouncing words like Namaste and Dhanyavaad. They would even ask you about Aishwarya Rai.

A recent linguistic study report released by the Washington DC - based the US English Foundation revealed that Hindi is now the 10th most frequently spoken language in Grand Forks. This is considered significant given that North Dakota has little Indian population among other US States.

This is all because, observes, Ravindra Thamma, one of the youngest Assistant Professor in the University of North Dakota, due to the rapidly increasing number of students from India at UND Prof Thamma is from Andhra Pradesh.

Now, as per the latest statistics released by the Office of the International Programmes, UND, the Indians are the second largest foreign community in the University. Canada tops the list with 128, which is closely followed by India with 126.

The figure for Indians has nearly doubled in the last one year. It was less than 50 about a year ago.

If the trend continues, Indians would surpass Canada by the next semester, comments William Young, Associate Director of International Programmes, UND.

"We have not done any special effort or campaigning to attract the Indians here," he says. The university seems to have developed a preference to Indians over those from the other countries because of the relatively better command over the English language and due to the impression that these are hard working people.

Prof Young's observation is reflected in the latest statistics released by the UND. If one removes the 45 undergraduate students from Canada who cross over the border to study here, Indians tops the list in higher studies, research and faculty.

Against 45 from Canada and 28 from China, as many as 71 students are perusing PhD mostly in medical science and engineering. In fact, of the 221 overseas researchers one-third are from India alone. Same is the case in medical research, Indians tops the list with 33. In nursing, 17 out of 18 are from India.

With rapidly increasing number of Indians, the local grocery stores and shopping malls have started keeping Indian products including traditional spices and packaged sweets. One can also purchase frozen naan here.

The increasing strength of Indians is also reflected in the frequent community gathering and celebrations of important festivals like Holi and Diwali, besides the Independence and Republic Day every year.

Cultural events too are held at frequent intervals at the UND International Centre. Not the least, the national flavour - Cricket - to has made its presence.

The students have formed a local cricket club and passionately play the game every weekend in summers, watched eagerly by the local population. Indeed, Indians have come a long way in Grand Forks.