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CAVITY BUSTER
He’s known as the papa of Indian American doctors and was among the first Indians to settle in the land of opportunities. Today, Amarjit Singh Marwah looks back at over 50 years of life in the US
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In the history of Indian doctors in America, the name of Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah will always come on top. This savvy Sikh was the first Indian dentist to come to the US under a Guggenheim Fellowship way back in 1950. “I was probably the first Indian to get my practice license in 1954,” he beams.
Deservedly, Dr Marwah is the mentor of tens of thousands of Indian professionals in the US today. This Los Angeles-based dentist has left his mark not only in his profession but also in the political, social, cultural, financial and charitable spheres in his adopted land as well as in his native India.
Move stars Elizabeth Taylor and Gregory Peck have been his clients. Included in his wide circle of friends are presidents, prime ministers, celebrities and business tycoons. His neighbors include the likes of Barbara Streisand and Martin Sheen. And he has, over the years, hosted a veritable who’s who of America and India.
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Saund got the Democratic Party ticket under the name of D.S. Saund, not revealing his full name. Had he mentioned his full name, he would not have got it
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For 18 long years, this man dedicatedly served as a commissioner for Los Angeles and presided over the Hollywood Art Commission and the Cultural Heritage Commission.
If you happen to walk on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, remember that it was declared a monument under his signature, as were dozens of other sites in Los Angeles.
Flashback to the past.
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POWER COUPLE: The Marwahs with former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton |
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“There were hardly any Indians in America when I landed in New York in 1950. Most Americans had not seen a Sikh. So they used to call me Young Santa Claus. In their eyes, I was the younger version of Santa Claus with a black beard,” Dr Marwah laughs. Back then, according to him, there were just 15-20 Indian students each in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. “Altogether, there were not more than 50 Indian students in the US. India had a great image, but there were few Indians. One could count them on one’s fingertips. At that time, there were two known Indian names - J.J. Singh Wallia and Bhagat Singh Thind - because of their fight for the rights of Asians and Indians,” recalls
Marwah.
Ask him about any Indian-specific event in this country since 1950 and he says, “Oh, yes, that happened in such and such year and I was there on so and so date. When Prime Minister Nehru came to New York in the mid-1950s, I was among the few Indians who went to see him. President Radhakrishnan also came, and that was in the early 1960s.”
One historical event that stands out in his memory is the campaign of Dalip Singh Saund to become the first Asian Congressman in America in 1956. “We had close family ties with Saund because his younger brother, Sardar Bahadur Karnail singh, had worked under my uncle, Sardar Bahadur Ram Singh, who was chief engineer with railways in Lahore. When Saund first contested in 1956, I took two months’ leave from my teaching job in Chicago and flew to California to campaign for him. His congressional district comprised the Imperial Valley, Riverside and Palm Springs,” reminisces Dr
Marwah.
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More...
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April 2006
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