I am the Deputy Director of the only professionally managed senior center for South Asian older adults in the North East, called India Home. These pictures are from a road trip we took our seniors on to Amish country in Pennsylvania. They had never seen anything like the culture they encountered there because it was not a standard destination for South Asians. They played Anthakshari on the bus, teams competing fiercely on who could sing the most songs from Bollywood's golden oldies. They ate Bombay mix and samosas and drank chai all the way there. The sight of 50 seniors eating puri bhaji and pickle on the grounds of an Amish farm didn't seem to phase the Amish, btw. The guide at the Amish center was a refugee from Afghanistan--and he was great about making our South Asian seniors feel right at home. The trip showed our seniors a side of America they hadn't seen and was an encounter with another marginal culture in America, one that they recognized, had its own peculiarities and deeply held beliefs, just like their own.

Chandrakant Sheth, one of our members marveled at the Amish, “Even if they have a million dollars they don’t show off.”