For the last couple of years, we have been planning to publish a coffee table book that will focus on the Indian community in greater Los Angeles area (Southern California), its history, struggles, successes, and achievements of people and the pioneering role of several temples, organizations, businesses, institutions, events, etc. We thought that the book will be a great tribute to all those who succeeded in reaching the pinnacle in so many diverse fields of human endeavor in Southern California. We reached out many important, influential, successful, trailblazer Indian Americans who we thought are role models and have given identity to the Indian community in greater Los Angeles area. We urged them to share their inspiring stories. We succeeded in some cases, in others we probably were not very persuasive.

The people whose profiles are included in the book are not all wealthy but they attained some goal that was important to them and were also noticed by the project committee. The paths they took were varied, and the success they achieved would not have been possible without sacrifice, vision and difficult trade-offs. Some profiles in the book give profoundly effective personal stories of struggle, others exemplify leadership, service, and dedication. They can be fascinating for the current generation and inspirational for the next one.