“You can take an Indian out of India, but you can never take India out of an Indian”. 2020, the year of the pandemic, saw several Indian Americans including tech moguls and high-paid professionals live by the maxim. Ramesh Bhatia and Kalpana Bhatia, one of the most successful and richest Indian-origin business couples in the USA, donated over US$ 8 million to over 40 nonprofits throughout 2020. Recently, the Texas-based philanthropist duo made a charitable giving worth USD 150,000 towards healthcare efforts in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand. The generous donation to the Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America (BJANA) will help fund its rural health initiative.

The Indian American couple’s non-profit wing, the Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation, is “dedicated to making an impactful change around the world by funding innovative solutions and programs that enrich the communities and serve the common good.” In 2020 alone, the foundation committed funding to the pandemic-hit communities and organizations in health, education, human rights, social justice, medical research, emergency response, mental health, and women & girls’ empowerment.

A $7-million grant to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas is the biggest donation that the Bhatia Family Foundation has ever pledged till that and the couple’s most impactful initiative of the year 2020. UT Southwestern is the best and largest medical school in the US state of Texas.

The USD 7-million gift includes $5 million for funding the construction of the Neurosciences Tower at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, a teaching hospital in the Southwestern medical district. The Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation Hall in the hospital’s new tower is supposed to be open this year.  A university chair in research on brain science will be established with the remaining grant, in honor of the Bhatia Family Foundation.

Apart from funding major institutions, Ramesh Bhatia and Kalpana Bhatia extended their philanthropic arm to the small organizations that remained underfunded during the pandemic. One such organization is Dallas-based Ability Connection that provides shelter to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Bhatia Family Foundation partnered with Ability Connection and pledged a grant of over $500,000 for the construction of a new residence for the sheltered adults.

CEO of Atco Rubber Products in Dallas, Ramesh Bhatia went on to identify and support the few regional organizations that continued to provide essential services to the needy even during unprecedented times. As part of its response to the pandemic, the Bhatia Foundation donated over $225,000 to the regional organizations, including Communities in Schools in Dallas/Fort Worth, Sakhi for South Asian Women, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Meals on Wheels Los Angeles, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, and YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles.

In 2020, the Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation donated $225,000 to Communities in Schools of Greater Tarrant County, which is part of a nationwide dropout prevention network trying to keep 1.3 million students in school till graduation. Among the beneficiaries of the Bhatia Foundation’s pandemic-special charity, Sakhi for South Asian Women is committed to serving survivors of gender violence in South Asian communities. The volunteers of Sakhi for South Asian Women provide technical assistance to the survivors of violence, advocate for the latter’s right to dignity and help them with community outreach.

In September 2020, the Bhatia couple took the pandemic as an opportunity to give back to the local community on the North Texas Giving Day, a one-day online giving event for billionaires and philanthropists. Since 2009, the North Texas Giving Day has been promoting the culture of community giving. The event raised $30,000 from the Bhatia Family Foundation for 30 local nonprofits and small businesses in and around Dallas.

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Both Dallas and Houston have long been waiting for direct flights from Texas to India. Neither of DFW International Airport and Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport has direct air connectivity to India, though each of the both Texan airports offers nonstop service to over 50 major cities across the world.

Texas Governor, Greg Abbott found himself stuck between Houston and Dallas when it came to considering the demand for nonstop flights to India made by both – Indians in Houston and Dallas Indians, before he left for a 9-day trip to India in March 2018. A direct link to India from Texas was a matter of discussion during his meeting with Suresh Prabhu, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation.

The meeting was concluded, with Greg Abbott saying, “When I get home, it’s going to be one of the issues I focus on. … I’m going to have Houston and Dallas battle it out and let the respective airlines battle it out,” according to Dallasnews.com.

Picture credit: Pinterest.com/zillow

In August 2019, the proposed, expected and awaited direct air connectivity to India from Texas has culminated in a Houston vs Dallas battle. It is highly speculated that with the consul general of India being in Houston, the prospects are better in favor of Houston Indians than Indians in Dallas.

On the other hand, the US IMPACT (US Indo-American Members Political Action Committee of Texas) launched a petition to collect minimum 50,000 signatures, before Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Houston in September, in order to make Dallas to India direct flights a reality.

With no fewer than 50,000 signatures, the petition titled “DFW2India” will be submitted to India’s Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Air India’s Chairman Ashwani Lohani, Texas Governor, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian, and American Airlines CEO. The petition will also be presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Houston visit. The objective of the petition is that the direct connectivity to India from Dallas, Texas is no more a desire; rather a need.

The petition requires Indians/Indian-origin people in and around Dallas to furnish the petition form with certain details like how frequently they traveled to India in the past 3 years, what their preferred Indian destination is (Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata), what kind of trip to India they make – personal or business, and their personal reason for supporting the cause of starting direct flights to India from Dallas, Texas.

“India is definitely up there on DFW Airport’s list of target international destinations,” said John Ackerman, the executive vice president of global strategy and development. Currently, a few airlines offer one-stop service from DFW International Airport to 13 Indian cities. The size of Dallas’ Indian populace is bigger than the number of Indians in Houston by a few thousands, as per the 2017 data.

If the fulcrum of interest tilts towards Houston, either United Airlines or Air India will operate nonstop flights from Houston to India. If Dallas is favored, either American Airlines or Air India will provide direct flights to India from Dallas. In March 2019, American Airlines was planning to make a comeback to India with direct service from any of its US hubs.

“In November 2018, the Federation of Indian American Associations of Georgia presented a memorandum to Indian government, seeking assistance to make Air India operate direct flights from Atlanta to India. But, there is yet no response from the government of India. Hope, the petition seeking signatures in support of direct flights from Dallas to India meets with success,” said the editor of Travel Beats, a subsidiary of Indian Eagle Travel, a most trusted air-ticketing partner of Indians in USA.

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Indian Americans have gradually been redefining the desi perception of charity, which is donating to temples or religious entities and giving alms to beggars. However, the available reports on overseas Indians’ charitable giving do not speak highly of Indian Americans’ giving habits. One of the highest-earning ethnic groups in the United States, the Indian American community donates about USD 1 billion a year, whereas they have the potential of giving back $3 billion a year.

The survey released at the Indiaspora Philanthropy Summit at Georgetown University in 2018 concludes that Indian Americans donate a max 1.5% of their annual income, which is almost one-third of the average American donation. Indian Americans prolifically volunteer their time for diverse causes, which is almost double the US national average of volunteering hours; but they are not among the leaders in charitable giving, according to the survey.

However, brushing aside the debate on Indian Americans’ giving potential is their promising emergence into philanthropy in education and healthcare. In a recent instance of the increasing awareness about the social impact they could do with their more generous giving habits, an Indian American family has donated a whopping $5 million to fund research and education on heart health.

Picture Credit: Sbisteel.com/news

Indian American Satish Gupta’s Gupta Agarwal Charitable Foundation made the donation to the Texas-based Baylor Scott & White Heart Hospital’s research facility in Plano, aiming to help further the research on cardiac conditions. Headquartered in Dallas, Baylor Scott & White Heart Hospital is known worldwide for its topnotch cardiac care facility where the Satish and Yasmin Gupta Heart Center has recently been unveiled.

Dallas-based Yasmin and Satish Gupta, the founders of the Gupta Agarwal Charitable Foundation, are driven by their sheer commitments to improving access to knowledge and education for the welfare of communities, both local and global, through continuous research on heart health and others.

The impact of the Gupta Agarwal Charitable Foundation’s donation to Baylor Scott & White Health is not limited to Texas or the US at large; it is rather extended to physicians from all over the world. The fund will facilitate access to the world-class care provided at Baylor Scott & White Health’s Heart Hospital in Plano for physicians from other countries. They will also be allowed to get trained in the latest medical developments and take the knowledge home to better healthcare facilities in their countries.

In addition to knowledge dissemination on the best heart health care for millions of cardiac patients worldwide, the Gupta Agarwal Charitable Foundation’s gift to Baylor Scott & White Health will fund implementation of new therapies.

The founder of SB International, steel baron Satish Gupta’s commitment to improving heart health care for millions of people is a very personal one. With a degree in Economics from Chennai, he came to the US in 1979 and studied MBA in International Trade & Management at the University of Dallas. In 1981, he set up his first steel export business. When he was grappling with challenges to cement the foundation of the business, his father needed a cardiac bypass surgery in India. Somehow he managed to bring his father to Texas for better cardiac treatment. In 2003, Satish Gupta himself noticed his cardiac symptoms and took a therapeutic approach to improve his heart health, consulting the best physicians at Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas.

Also Check: Billionaire Cardiologist Dr. Kiran Patel Invests Millions to Save Hearts

The Gupta family will helm the utilization of the $5-million donation. Satish Gupta’s daughter Samantha Gupta Parmar, a healthcare professional, will help the newly created committee to direct the gift to achieve the goals. Moreover, Satish and Yasmin Gupta will help further the mission with their business acumen and philanthropic commitment. “Anything you give should snowball to something bigger, and our gift to Baylor Scott & White Health is a global initiative to impact lives positively,” said Yasmin Gupta in a press release.

The Satish and Yasmin Gupta College of Business, a 45,000-sq-ft world-class academic building at the University of Dallas, was inaugurated in 2016, and it is a testimony to the Indian American Gupta family’s passion for community welfare.

This news story is brought to you by Indian Eagle Travel at its overseas Indian community portal, Travel Beats, as part of the continued effort to promote good work by Indians in USA. Indian Eagle not only strives to make flights to India from USA cheaper and better, but also caters inspiring community stories, visa & immigration news, and international travel alerts through free newsletters.

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The Radha Krishna Temple of Dallas is all set for its grand inauguration in July 2017. One of the culturally important Hindu temples in Texas, the Radha Krishna Temple in the Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area will be inaugurated on July 4, the US Independence Day. As the name suggests, the magnificent temple will be consecrated to Lord Krishna and Divine Mother Shree Radha amidst spectacular ceremonies. The inauguration of the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple has a lot more in the offing, other than fireworks on the 4^th of July, for devotees.

The inauguration of Dallas Radha Krishna Temple is one of the most awaited Texas Indian events in July 2017, as the ceremony comprises a series of events to be held from July 4 to July 11. The 8-day celebration will commence with sanctification of the idols with a mix of holy water, milk, honey, and other ingredients. The consecration (abhishekam) of the idols will be followed by an enchanting prayer.

A sacred homam will be performed in honor of the presiding deities within the temple premises as per the schedule of the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple inaugural ceremony. Offerings will be poured into the holy fire during chanting of mantras and singing of hymns for the welfare of devotees. The crown of the temple will also be sanctified with holy waters and mantras in one of the ceremonies.

The schedule of the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple inaugural ceremony also includes a 12-hour akhand (nonstop) kirtan on July 11 for spiritual ecstasy of devotees from across Texas and other US states. Devotees will have a rare chance to experience spiritual awakening of the mind and the soul under the influence of Swami Mukundananda’s enlightening discourses for 8 days at the Radha Krishna Temple of Dallas, TX.

Upcoming Nonstop Flights from Dallas to India

Devotees can drink to the divine bliss of the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple inaugural ceremony, by singing in chorus or dancing to devotional songs while enjoying enactment of the Radha Krishna leela. Shree Kripaluji Maharaj’s videos elucidating the significance of the Radha Krishna leela will be screened within the temple premises.

The Radha Krishna Temple in DFW area is not just a resplendent abode of Lord Krishna and his consort, but a haven of religious harmony, communal values and spiritual teachings. The temple has a wing of youths including Indian American teens, which works to facilitate education for the underprivileged in the Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area. In 2016, the youth brigade of the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple undertook an initiative – Kids Assisting Kids in Education (KAKE) – to distribute free laptops with access to online educational resources to underprivileged children.

Of late, the Radha Krishna Temple of Dallas launched a scholarship scheme to financially aid the children of economically disadvantaged Hindu families, who are high school seniors or undergraduate students in USA studying STEM, non-STEM, fine arts or any other discipline. Hindu students whose annual family income is below $75,000 can apply for the scholarship. The deadline to submit application forms is August 31, 2017. Read more about the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple’s eligibility criteria for scholarship.

Texas Indians or Indian Americans in general can contribute to the spiritual and humanitarian missions of the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple. They can make donations to sponsor any number of bricks for the ongoing construction of the temple, maha prasad, daily pooja, certain festivities, community activities and welfare schemes for underprivileged students as well as homeless kids in the DFW area. Check the available opportunities for making donation to the temple.

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Air India is on a roll with upcoming nonstop flights between USA and India! Once the most-awaited Washington DC-New Delhi nonstop flight takes to the sky on July 7, 2017, Air India will roll out its nonstop service on two other routes between the US and India. These new routes are Los Angeles to New Delhi, and Dallas to New Delhi.

Hollywood, a dream destination for many Indians, would just be a 16-hour flight away from New Delhi once Air India’s nonstop DEL to LAX flight is launched in September this year. With nonstop flights from Los Angeles to New Delhi, Air India will be catering to more and more Indians in California. The success of Air India’s SFO to DEL nonstop flight has resulted in the planning of this new service.

The launch of Air India’s nonstop Los Angeles to Delhi flights in September will be followed by the nonstop service from Dallas to New Delhi. When Air India will start operating Dallas to Delhi nonstop flights is not yet revealed. However, the airline is sanguine about its planning to provide Indians in USA with more nonstop flights to India.

Demand for air travel between the West Coast of USA and India is always high. Air India’s nonstop service for cheap flights from Los Angeles to New Delhi will help meet the demand in peak times of the year. Indian Eagle, a trusted travel booking partner of Indians in America, will be issuing cheap Air India flight tickets to New Delhi from Los Angeles and Dallas.

Air India currently operates nonstop flights from New York, Newark, San Francisco and Chicago to New Delhi. The discounted Air India fare deals for cheap US to India flights are available at Indian Eagle throughout the year.

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Today two Indian American teens have walked into the White House to attend an invitation by the US First Lady Michelle Obama. Gopal Raman from Texas and Maya Eashwaran from Georgia are the first Indian Americans to be selected for the National Students Poets Program by the White House. They are among the five budding poets selected for this prestigious program this year.

Most of the times, young Indians in America hit headlines for winning scholarships in science or technology, making impactful inventions or significant contributions to communities, and pursuing philanthropy. Undeniably, the achievement by Indian-origin Gopal Raman and Maya Eashwaran is an altogether different feather in the cap of Indian American community.

Incepted in 2011, the White House’s National Student Poets Program seeks to promote and establish the role of creative writing in academic and other spheres as a key to personal success across the nation. Every year, five National Student Poets are selected from a number of creative writers, who have bagged a National Scholastic Art and Writing Award for poetry.

17-year-old Maya Eashwaran from Alpharetta in Georgia exercises his creative writing skills to write about foreigners and his personal experiences of dealing with them. Cultural assimilation in the modern age is a subject matter of his writings.

Gopal Raman, a High School senior from Dallas in Texas, believes that the emotive power of poetry unites people against all odds. He draws inspirations from the writings of such eminent authors as Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens and Billy Collins.

Travel Beats is an Indian American Community Portal by IndianEagle, a leading travel organization for Indians in USA. Subscribe to Travel Beats’ free newsletter for latest news and stories about young Indians in America.

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