An opportunity to escape from his impoverished existence came when he moved to Zambia to join relatives from his Gujarat village. In 1976, sensing a Uganda-like trouble for Indians, he immigrated to the USA. Today his firm has completed over 200 acquisitions and sales transactions worth over USD 4 billion. Dr R Narayanaswami has been a distinguished space scientist with NASA—an institution where Indians have been shining like stars—before venturing out into his own. KV Kumar is the proud recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, awarded to those distinguished American citizens that exemplify a life dedicated to community service—he’s put in over 100,000 hours of volunteer work. By founding the Shankara Dance Academy, Arti Manek has transformed thousands of lives through Kathak. The celebrated Kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj has equated her California academy with top ones in Lucknow and Delhi.

Deepi Singh could only take her first baby steps in life at the age of 5 after being afflicted by polio when just nine months old. She was told that she would not walk beyond the age of 40, but walks with dignity even at 81. Climbing little mental hillocks every day, she rose to the top of her department at Kaiser Permanente—an institution to which she gave 40 years of her life! Dr Harvinder Sahota, celebrated cardiologist, had two dozen patents against his name, and became the inventor of the perfusion heart balloon. His fame took him across the world where he performed angioplasty, including for the first time in India. Indar Sethi was about eight years old when the horrors of partition played out live before him. His family became refugees. Over the years Indar Sethi became a success, working on NASA sponsored scientific missions and other projects in an outstanding career spanning 40 years.