Students carve out a cultural niche
(photo: Shrikrishna Khare, left, Neil D'Souza and Rishi Mehta walk home from class along Avent Ferry Road, an Indian enclave. )
Today, he walks out of his Southwest Raleigh apartment and feels his homesickness fade. Cricket matches spring up in parking lots and tennis courts. Cars pass by with pictures of Hindu gods dangling from the rearview mirrors. If he needs curry or roti bread, some neighbor will drive him to the Indian market in Cary -- six miles away.
Shah has melded into a growing cultural niche on Avent Ferry Road, a place where Indian graduate students at N.C. State University fill entire apartment complexes.
Indian students know about Avent Ferry even before they leave India, and they rank apartment complexes in order of preference: Champion Court, Avery Close, Colonial Arms.
Students here represent a migration of budding engineers seeking fruitful jobs at home in India, where high-tech jobs are blooming, but the master's degrees they require are scarce and competitive. They list as a top choice N.C. State University, one of a handful of American schools that offer graduate degrees in computer networking.
Shah and his peers also add flavor in North Carolina's Capital City, where more and more residents hail from somewhere else.
"People tend to joke it's 'Indian Ferry Road,' " said Shah, 22. "You are still in that mood. It's not as difficult coming to the U.S."
N.C. State lists roughly 2,000 people here on student visas, about 450 from India -- more than from any other country. Nationwide, Indian students add up to more than 75,000 -- again, the largest influx coming from any country. Next year, Shah expects perhaps another 300 students to arrive in Raleigh.
They cluster as close as possible to the engineering classes on Centennial Campus, sharing rides to Cary for Bollywood movies at Galaxy Cinema or Triangle Indian Market, which caters to their vegetarian diets.
"In the engineering classes, I think many Americans will tell you they feel out of place," said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, 23, who is studying electrical engineering.
On Avent Ferry, Shah points out low-slung brick complexes occupied almost entirely by Indians. Most show up for multiyear stays without a car, a credit card, a cell phone or much money. Furniture comes from garbage bins or garage sales.
Most require jobs to help them through school. Shah worked at Taco Bell despite being a strict religious vegetarian. "I had to touch meat," he said.
Raleigh's Indian pocket is discreet enough to escape most notice -- no saris hanging in the window, incense burning or curry scent wafting down the street. In Shah's apartment recently, the only activity amounted to four students crowded on living room couches, noses in their laptops, tennis shoes piled by the door.
N.C. State, abroad
Last month, N.C. State Chancellor James Oblinger took a weeklong trip to India to promote international education. He traveled with President Bush's ally, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, and several other university heads. Before he left, Shah assured him the United States was still a destination for Indians post-9/11.
"I had a young lady come up to me and say, 'I'm so excited to meet you. I'll be on your campus next year studying electrical engineering.' " Oblinger told N.C. State's board of trustees on Friday. "I was the only one that had that happen."
Tech jobs are exploding in India. Cisco Systems will build a second headquarters in Bangalore, spending $150 million and hiring 1,000 people. IBM plans to double its Indian work force by 2010, counting on skilled but lower-cost labor. Indians here plan to spend a few years working for American companies -- Shah has an internship in San Jose this summer -- then return to India for promising work.
Back in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Shah followed an online community on Yahoo.com that offers advice to N.C. State's incoming Indian students. Dozens check in each day. Skip clothes hangers, which are cheap, they learn. Bring garam masala and other spices, which are expensive and hard to find.
All Shah and his peers knew on arrival was that someone from Maitri -- the campus's Indian support group -- would be waiting at the airport.
Maitri met Shah's group with three cars and a van, arranged squatter's housing with other seniors and pointed them in the direction of housing and jobs.
The call of higher ed
Hardik Thakker, 23, never imagined coming to America. He grew up in Mumbai in a household with 12 others including extended family, and he never got the urge to leave until he watched his Indian classmates migrate to American colleges seeking a professional edge.
At N.C. State, he felt horribly lost.
Avent Ferry Road offers a Food Lion, a Mediterranean grocery, an Ethiopian restaurant, a pool room and a few banks. Two-story brick apartments line the west side, and the sight of an Indian face is common.
But little is walkable, leaving a newcomer to navigate the Wolfline bus system.
Thakker and Shah found an apartment at Kensington Park --fourth on their list of preferences because Centennial Campus is a Wolfline ride away rather than a few minutes' walk.
Thakker spent months knocking on doors in search of work, reminding himself to be patient and persistent. Finally, in October, he found a job.
"I issue tickets for parking violations," he said with a smile. "People come and abuse me when they see me writing tickets."
Soon, Shah and Thakker joined Maitri, which offers a chance to share Indian food and company. The Food Lion suffices for milk and other staples.
Thakker has started a blog. In a recent entry, he wrote about earning his driver's license after two failed tries and a botched U-turn:
"It might seem pretty easy to get a license, but for me, it was no less than a war."
No cultural vacuum
Still, "Indian" Ferry Road is not an isolated Indian island, said Jay Narayan, an N.C. State distinguished professor in material science engineering and a Maitri adviser.
"They integrate quite well," Narayan said. "The English language is not a problem. They speak well. They write well. It's just that they like to live together, especially when they come in. It's not a ghetto."
N.C. State works to integrate students into the community, and Indian students often visit Wake County schools to give cultural lectures, said Michael Bustle, director of N.C. State's Office of International Services.
Still, he added, "If you went to India and there were a few Americans who lived there, you'd most likely live with them because they know what a Big Mac tastes like and who the sports teams are."
Shah and Thakker celebrated Lord Krishna's birthday in Raleigh last year -- a festival they tended to skip back home.
Tradition and change
Now Shah and Thakker share an apartment with three other students in Champion Court, their first preference just outside Centennial Campus.
The cricket club meets near Carmichael gym each Friday when the weather gets warm.
Shah and Thakker organized a screening of the Cricket World Cup games -- the Indian equivalent of the Super Bowl -- on campus. But time to relax is scarce.
American classes are more rigorous than those in India, Shah said. Class is awkward for Indian students, too, because N.C. State professors are so much more approachable and friendly. They are used to formality on campus back home.
But they adjust. On a warm Saturday, Shah and Thakker sit at Cup A Joe on Avent Ferry, both wearing Wolfpack shirts.
Shah was elected president of Maitri in February. Thakker took vice president. They call their apartment "Maitri Headquarters."
"It feels like giving back what you have got," Shah said.
"We feel honored," Thakker echoed.
In July, they will organize a caravan to the airport, shuttling hundreds of newcomers to their temporary digs -- confident after a year's experience on Indian Ferry Road.
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