{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/jd4pk08b1g/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Hussain, Latafath"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/252/original/HPL_ArchiveBannerCDM2.jpg?1738348845","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Foundation for Indian Studies"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://rightsstatements.org/page/CNE/1.0/?language=en\"\u003eCopyright Not Evaluated \u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce must be obtained from the Foundation for India Studies, Houston, Texas.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["Houston Public Library Special Collections"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Hussain, Latafath (interviewee)","Hussain, Zaid (interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2015-04-12 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["eng (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["Latafath Hussain interviewed about culture, family, and educational background, as well as migration, contributions to the community, and work experiences."]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["digital recording, sound"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Houston (Tex.) (geographic term)","Oral histories (topical term)","Immigrants (topical term)","Community development (topical term)","Family life (topical term)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["indoamerican"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Moving Image"]}}],"summary":{"en":["Latafath Hussain interviewed about culture, family, and educational background, as well as migration, contributions to the community, and work experiences."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://rightsstatements.org/page/CNE/1.0/?language=en\"\u003eCopyright Not Evaluated \u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce must be obtained from the Foundation for India Studies, Houston, Texas.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Houston Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Houston Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/252/original/HPL_ArchiveBannerCDM2.jpg?1738348845","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/218/487/small/1701796148_FIS-OH0034LatafathHussain.mp4_1701796163.jpg?1701796164","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - FIS-OH0034.mp4"]},"duration":3082.84643,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/218/487/small/1701796148_FIS-OH0034LatafathHussain.mp4_1701796163.jpg?1701796164","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-houstonlibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/218/487/original/FIS-OH0034.mp4?1701796159","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3082.84643,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ZH: Hello! My name is Zaid Hussain, interviewing my father Latafath Hussain on behalf of the Foundation for India Studies Houston for the Indo-American Oral History Project, done in partnership with Houston Public Library and Houston Community College.\n\nDad, just a brief word about you?\nLH: My name is Latafath Hussain and I am here at the request of friends to do this project for the Foundation for India Studies. \n\nZH: So the first question that I would like to ask you is what was it like growing up in India?\n\nLH: It was fun. We had a joint family, so in my dad’s home there were eight children, which consisted of cousins, nieces and nephews, and there was a difference of a few years between the oldest, which was me, and the youngest, which was my niece, and so when you have eight children growing up in one house, in a big house, with a huge yard, it's a lot of fun. And of course we had servants and drivers and things, which unfortunately your generation really hasn’t seen, either here or in India. \nZH: And what would you say were more of the day-to-day activities growing up in India, because I am sure those were completely different from what we have gone through here?\n\nLH: Not really. I mean, the regimen still was that you had to go to school, you had to get up early in the morning, go to school, come back. And we were forced to take a nap and then get up and study -- well, have some fun, play, and then study. This was the time before television so there was really no distraction of Game Boy or texting or phone call. I think at that time there was one phone call per, I don’t know, 20,000 families, so we were lucky that we had a telephone in the house, but not too many people had the phone so we didn’t have -- we were not distracted that we have to call some friend or whatever, we studied and we played, that was it. \nZH: Now, you mentioned studying a lot in that, what would you say is, what are the differences between the school system that you went through and what you have seen in the school system here? \nLH: That’s interesting! The Indian school system is built around that you have to memorize things, and here you don’t have to memorize, but comprehend and understand and build on that. So there is a difference. \nWhen you were in school here, and I would relate that to my time when I was in school, I mean, oh my God, before the exams came around I would lose sleep, because it’s like I had to memorize the whole year’s work just before the exams began. And here you guys didn’t even take your exam seriously because it’s like, hey, that’s only 20% or 10% of the whole year’s studying, and our exams were 100% of the whole year’s studying. So it was different, it was a different era, a different time, but I still think it was a lot of fun. \nZH: So going through school, I know you and I have talked previously before, but you started university when you were 15, right? You went to Aligarh Muslim University. What can you say about that experience and how do you think that relates to the school system that we have here, where we start colleges at about 17, 18? \n\nLH: So in India that has now changed as well, that you can go to a university only after you finish your secondary school, which means that you must be 17, or if you are a genius I think 16, but otherwise 17, 18, 19 is when you go to college in India now. In my time as soon as you finished high school, which was Senior Cambridge or tenth grade, you could go to college, and that is what happened with me that I finished my Senior Cambridge at the age of 15 and that very year I was a student at the university.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487#t=0.0,301.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ZH: And what would you say university was like for you, because that is, for your experience, that’s a definite departure from what we are used to? So being at a university at that young of an age, how would you say that that influenced you? \nLH: So I went away from home to go to the university and though as the crow flies it was only a few 100 miles, but back then in India we only traveled by train and so it was a 14 hour journey from home to Aligarh Muslim University. So I was insulated in that way that I didn’t have to answer to or somebody watching over me what I was doing, and what I wasn’t doing, but I think personally I figured that it was a responsibility. \nMy dad was always -- the values that I had learnt at home were that you can do whatever you want as long as you do well in studies, which was that you compete. You may not always be at the top of the class, but if you were -- and if you gave it your best that was good. And you should of course always try to be among the top 10, top15. And so that was the value that I had learned at home and that’s what I practiced. \nI mean, I had lots of fun. I was the first one in my family to join the student union and because of that I had the opportunity to meet five Prime Ministers of India and umpteen political leaders and business leaders and whatnot, but one thing that I will never forget that I can do all these things as long as I keep getting good grades in the university, and so I balanced it pretty okay I think. \nZH: So what age were you when you finished your university and then what were some of the events that led you to coming to America?\n\nLH: So I graduated from the university at 18. I had my Bachelor’s degree. I had my Bachelor’s in Biology, because my parents wanted me to become a doctor and so they encouraged me, not they encouraged me, I had no choice. I mean, that was the way you grew up. You did what your parents told you to do. And you could protest and you could cry and you could do whatever you wanted, but you still had to do what your parents told you. And so I tried to explain to my dad that I really didn’t want to become a doctor, but he was like, no, this is what you have to do. It was ordained so to speak. So I graduated, I competed also, but did not qualify for the medical schools. \nAt the same time my passion was always for hotel management, and at that time Oberois and Tatas, those were the only two companies that offered a management training program, because there were no hotel schools in India. And I was very fortunate that I got accepted by the Oberoi’s for the their management training program, and I was sent to Saudi Arabia, and that’s when I realized that I really needed to get a formal education in hotel management if I wanted to climb up the ladder. \nI think it was also because of India, that in India who is your father, what background you come from, how much influence your parents have, those things matter a lot in your growth, and not 100% is based just on your own productivity or efficiency or on you. And I did not have that because I came from a middle class family, and so I decided that if I wanted to compete with the big boys I better get some formal education, and so I stared looking. And I was very fortunate that I ran into an American, who worked at the American Consulate.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487#t=301.0,614.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Now, you have to remember that those times we did not have the Internet or computers or information was really not at our fingertips; actually it was not even in the library, because libraries did not have a lot of books. So it was coincidence that I ran into this America, whom I became friends with, and then when I found out that he worked at the American embassy I told him that, hey, I want to study hotel management and I am thinking of going to Europe. He said why to Europe, why not come to America? \nAnd I had no idea honestly as to where America was in terms of the world. I just knew that it would be too expensive and I could not afford. But he helped me, and I took TOEFL and the college entrance exam for Cornell, and I was surprised, I got in, so I came. \nZH: So backtracking a bit, you were in a family you said of eight siblings, correct? \n\nLH: No, there were eight children that grew up, but I had five brothers and two sisters, seven, but you have to understand that the age difference between my eldest brother and my youngest was I think 24 years or something, because my eldest brother has a daughter who is the same age as me; we both are actually just a few months apart. So that’s how much the age difference between all the children were. \n\nZH: So I mean here in America generally the families are two to three children max, how would you say just your childhood in that type of environment, how wildly drastic or similar would it be compared to what the normal childhood experience is here? \nLH: This is a phenomenon not only here, but also in India. I mean, I look at my friends and relatives and typically they have either one or two child; very rarely they may have three at the most, but that’s really rare. \nTimes have changed. When I was born the mortality rate was very high in India. I know that in my father’s generation for every one child that survived, two or three passed away, from the first to four years of age, so people tended to have lots of children because they were not sure how many would survive. \nIt was fun I mean, but when you have such a huge family it’s a lot of fun. And I see you and your brother, two kids growing up, and I really sometimes pity that all the fun that you all are missing. But on the other hand, as parents I believe that we can focus and devote more time and money and energy on two as opposed to six or seven or eight. \nSo it's different times, different -- actually it's different time and not so much the place, because even in India people are not having too many children. \nZH: So what are some of the accomplishments that you would like to remark upon that before you came to America, what are some of the great things that you had accomplished?\n\nLH: So I was the first one in the family that went away to university. I was the first one in the family that contested and won a student union election. I was the first one in the family that sat across the table from the Prime Minister of India and talked. I mean, when I look back now I say, oh my God, did I really do that, but at that time I guess because I was young and naive and didn’t have too much wisdom it looked like, hey, that’s the person, I am a person, what’s the big deal?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487#t=614.0,897.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And now I go to visit here the Mayor, the security that I have to go through here did not even exist in India. I mean all that they cared was that, hey, do you have the permission to get into this building and go and see the Prime Minister, and you were then ushered in and you walked in. So those were fun things. \nIf circumstances had been different or I guess I had been a different person, I had a lot of opportunity to join politics, because my mentor was the then Foreign Minister of India Raja Dinesh Singh, who was a king; he was a king before 1947, but the title had continued, and groomed me well, and he really saw in me things and said that you should join politics and I will help you. But that just wasn’t my cup of tea and I said, no, politics is not for me, and so I wanted to pursue a career in hotel management and here I am. \nZH: Is there anything else about India that you feel the current generation doesn’t get a good sense of, something that -- what is wholly unique to your generation growing up that the current generation may not know about or may not have any clue about?\nLH: The India that I grew up in and the India that I now go and visit is honestly a very different world. There wasn’t that much of competition back then. There wasn’t -- the values were different. You cared for your neighbor and your relatives, and I think that was both, because that was how my dad and mom were, so those were the values that were instilled in us, but that’s actually what I also saw was happening. \nSo today when I go I find that people are more for themselves and they have become very materialistic. They care more about how much is my bank balance and to get that bank balance am I hurting somebody or am I ruining somebody, they don’t care about those things. \nBut that’s also the phenomenon of the population increase in India. I mean, per square mile in India there are so many people that the moment you step outside the house, till the time you reach wherever you are going, you are pushing and shouting or fighting to be on the road, and then once you get there, then you have to fight for the time. I mean, at every step of the way there is so much of pushing and pulling. Thank God that is not here yet, but we are blessed that this is a different environment. \nZH: So moving back, so you mentioned that you had a friend that you made who worked at the American embassy, so what was it like just coming into America? What was the process that you had to go through as opposed to what it is now? \nLH: Well, not it has become so much more difficult and whatnot. It was very simple. I was applying for a student visa and to come to get the student visa they needed to see my TOEFL score, which was Test of English as a Foreign Language, and my SAT score. \nAnd also, it was amazing that they had sent from another country -- Cornell had sent somebody from another country to come and interview me and to decide if I would be an asset to their university or not, which was really totally foreign to me. I mean, that was I think the most foreign thing for me ever. I was coming here to learn and they were looking as to what would I contribute to Cornell. But anyway, I got very good marks, so based on that I really didn’t have any difficulty in getting the visa.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487#t=897.0,1203.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The only problem was that I thought that Cornell was in New York and New York was a city and so it’s like, hey, no problem, there would be jobs, there would be people that I would know and whatnot, till of course I landed in New York and then I read the instructions, it said that the school bus will come and pick you up at Kennedy Airport and take you to college. So I was like great. I was looking outside, and then we are going, and going, and I am like, man, where is the college? And after five hours when we reached Ithaca, I mean it was in the middle of nowhere. And so very quickly I decided that I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have enough money to pay the fees and there would be no jobs, because in a village you don’t have that many jobs. So I had a few challenges.\n\nZH: So for you what were the first few months in America like? I mean, this was a completely different land, you had no family here to rely upon, no friends that you really knew, so what was that situation like, having to completely adjust and being a foreigner in this country?\nLH: I think the hardest thing was the food, to be very honest, and the cold, because even though Cornell had written to me in every single this thing, prepare for cold, prepare for cold, but my family and I only knew about the cold weather that we had experienced in India. And so my mom had knitted me gloves, a cap; she also knitted me socks, and she thought that here, my son is ready for the winter, how cold can it be? But then when I got here then I found out that these gloves and this cap, that was absolutely useless, because the icy winds were going through it. \nAnd mom had also knitted quite a few sweaters thinking that was great, but I found out that sweater is just one layer of clothing, you actually need a lot more. So the weather was an issue. \nAnd then the food; I mean I just couldn’t eat anything because it had no taste. But I was young and excited to be here and adapted. The good thing was that Cornell at that time also was a very international school. There were students from all over the world, and there were quite a few from India, and so we formed a nice support system. And the seniors that were there from before me, I mean they took me under their wings, and so I mean I adapted. The only problem was the finance that the university wanted to see that I had enough money to go for four years there and I did not, because I had thought, oh, not a problem, I mean I will work and be able to pay. \nZH: So after Cornell, what happened after that since the financials were --\n\nLH: Oh, then I transferred to another school, Upstate New York, and then I won a fully paid scholarship to the University of Houston, so then I came to Houston. So it was a journey, but each place I learned something and it was good. \n\nZH: So at what age now, just to get a framework, what age did you come to Houston and what were your initial impressions of the city? \n\nLH: I think I came to Houston at 24 years of age, 23, 24. That was in 1983 when I first came here. And Houston was a much smaller city. The people were not as friendly, but then again, it’s not fair because both Ithaca and Paul Smith’s had been villages, where Cornell was a big university, it had 25,000 students at that time, but 90% were all resident, they stayed on campus or close to campus. Paul Smith’s, on the other hand, had only 1,000 students and 100% of student stayed on campus.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487#t=1203.0,1510.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And then I come to University of Houston, which had also about 25,000 students, but only 2% stayed on campus; everybody else commuted. So it was very different, and it was very hard to make friends. \n\nBut on the other hand, it also gave me an opportunity that for the first time I could go and get a job, because A, I had by this time bought a car, so I had transportation, and I applied for jobs and immediately got it. And so I was working and going to school at the same time, so I really didn’t have much time to make friends, but even if I had had time I don’t think that there were too many people who wanted to make friends. I mean, everybody was there for a purpose and that was their aim, graduate as soon as you can so that you can step out into the real world and make lot of money. \n\nZH: And so what was it like I mean in those time having to work and be at school and just what were some of the challenges that came with that?\n\nLH: Challenges; I don’t know it was -- when you are young and you are focused, life honestly goes by very fast. It’s the people that don’t have a focus or don’t know where they are going or they don’t have to worry about paying their bills, I think they have challenges. I mean, to me it was very clear that instead of driving a 20 year old car and with 200,000 miles on it and no air conditioning here in Houston and moving on to a decent car that would have at least air conditioning and would be reliable, I needed to get my degree. \nBut even during that time I was also focused that together with my degree I also need to learn what America is all about. So I became the editor of the college newspaper, I became the vice president of the sophomore class, I became the President of the Hotel Motel Student Association. So I got involved in all those things because I needed to understand the culture, I needed to understand the people. \nTill then I was pretty sure that as soon as I finished this I am going back to India, because that’s where mom and dad are and my whole family is, and so I just wanted to have as much of America as I could before going back. So it was really not much of a challenge as much as I remember it was so much fun.\n\nZH: So between the two universities, University of Houston and Aligarh Muslim University, I mean you were definitely involved in both, but since you are at the same timeframe, what would you say is the difference in kind of the culture of the schools, the events and things that you led, and just your overall college experience between the two?\nLH: So if I could picture or paint this picture, at Aligarh I was a student leader. I never went alone. I always had a retinue of 5, 6, 10 people behind me, and if I walked into a room, people stood up and said, oh, please, sit down netaji, or whatever. My professors were very differential towards me; if I didn’t go to a class, not a problem, they still marked me present. If I didn’t take exam, no problem, I still passed. \nBut here I was doing all these things and yet I was really a nobody, nobody ever stood up for me or gave me the chair, and I had to do all this by myself; in Aligarh I just had to say I want this or I want this to be done and it would get done, somebody would do it. Here if I needed something to be done, I had to do it myself. \n\nLH: So it was two different worlds honestly and both were good in their own ways. And I think for me they were both, they both were very educational to what I am today because I learned from both of them.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487#t=1510.0,1815.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ZH: So shifting all of that, being an Indian in America, did you feel that that identity was a very big part of you? I mean when you came here going through Cornell – going Saint Paul’s, being of your age, how important was it for you to retain as much of the culture that you had just left with you?\n\nLH: Truthfully I never felt that there was an identity issue till you guys starting growing up and my wife reminded me that you know if you don’t change and do things then they will grow up more American than they will grow up Indians. People talk about glass ceilings and discrimination and all that and to be very honest I never felt that in America. I love to travel and I would go – and I have been to Europe often and to many different places and I would see visible signs of racial discrimination or religious discrimination in Europe but I never really felt that here in America ever. And I think it is a generational thing that when I was young and at that time there were not that many Indians so at Cornell, yes there was a decent size of Indian students and teachers but at Paul Smith’s, I was the only Indian student and then when I came to University of Houston, there were a lot of Indian students but there was a difference because most of – well there were two kinds of students at UH; those whose parents were here and they had grown up here and gone to high school and then there were people like me who were immigrants who had just come here to study and I could see that the locals, the local Indian kids did not treat us the same way because they thought oh! These guys, they would stay away from us. So it was interesting and so the foreign students and whether they be from India or Pakistan or Bangladesh, or there were some from Nepal, a lot of from China, and Vietnam, we all kind of hung around together at University of Houston. But language had a big impact so that Chinese kind of were with them because they could all talk in Chinese and even the Indians, the north Indians and the south Indians because we spoke Hindi, and the south Indian spoke the different dialects that they speak. So it was different but it was – but it was not so bad and I really did not feel any discrimination as such either because I was a Muslim or because I was from India or I because I was brown. I mean, generally people accepted you for what you were and who you were and then they left you alone. That was pretty much of it. Now I don’t find thus same either in India or here. In India after the Babri Masjid incident, I think it was in 1993 and in America after 2001, I think the world has changed a lot where religion and race and all those issues have come to the forefront. It’s a very different world than the one that I grew up in or that I lived in before 1993. Being an Indian before 1993 and then being an American before 2001 and that is why in 2006 we started and then in 2008 we formally launched the Indian Muslims Association of Greater Houston because my goal was to let everybody know that hey, we are no different than other people and what the American media and the television has paint us is really not true because you are just getting a little bit of a sound byte and through our own actions and community work we will show that we are the same as anybody else.\n\nZH: And going on that same like what would you say is the cultural significance of Indians in America, what are some of the great accomplishments that you need to have brought to America, some of the things that people may not realize that we as a culture have brought here and are extremely responsible for?\n\nLH: Oh boy, that’s a big question because America truly is a country of immigrants and whether it be Italians or Polish or I don’t know, Indians everybody has brought something but the Indians – majority of the Indians that came to this country were either already highly educated or they were already professionals when they came here, or they came to study and then went on to do exceedingly well.\n\nSo I personally think that an average American looks at an Indian with respect. We have also earned that respect by not only giving to the society, giving back to the society, American society but also living by example and when I say that living by example, I was – there really have been so many wonderful and great Indians that have contributed so much to the American society that it wouldn’t be fair to just name one or two or three but in the contemporary I mean Deepak Chopra is perfect example, or Fareed Zakaria is another example. Locally right here, my friend Mustafa Tameez who actually advises the mayor and the governor of Texas as to what to do and what not to do and I jokingly at times say that, hey, I mean you are the only Brown person I know that tells a White man what to do and they do it, right, so there is kind of a joke tongue-in- cheek.\n\nSo that’s – we have really contributed. The only thing is that I wish that Indians would just stop focusing on being doctors and engineers and go on into other fields like politics. Well we have at the moment a Congressmen, three Congressmen from India but at the state level, at the city level, at every level we need to get into high school education, we need to get into banking more and politics and all different walks of life except just being doctors and engineers.\n\nZH: So kind of scaling back my question putting in more personal aspect and then talk about political aspirations, what is that because growing up, you and I have always assisted with different political campaigns and so what would you say as far as your contributions are because you are an incredible political person, what do you say are some of your contributions in the political world for the betterment of Indians or just for the betterment of the community that you live in?\n\nLH: So I don’t know if it is for the betterment of Indians per se because I am both a precinct chair and a precinct judge in the area that I live in and so I serve all of the people that are living in that community and there are very few Indians, mostly Caucasians and other races but I do that from sense of duty that when people come to cast their vote and they see this brown man who looks different, speaks with an accent, and they can pronounce his name, may be they will learn that, hey, I need to do also because unfortunately Americans, it’s one of the oldest democracies and yet the number of people that exercise their right to vote is less than 50%. What a shame! So that’s why I am a precinct judge and I am a precinct chair. \n\nI am a democrat, I am a registered democrat and so I help my party and so as you know we have done fundraiser for congressmen at our house, we have done fundraiser for Mayor at our house, we have done for county judge, and helped them and you’ve gone out with me at 11 o’clock at night to put out signs and posters and whatnot, and then we have gone to I don’t know how many campaign rallies but that’s just to show that we must, if we are to be taken seriously, participate in the community and raise our voice and raise our concerns, as an American first and then as an Indian.\n\nZH: And so as a Muslim as well as an Indian, as long as there is a minority in India as well as in America and how would you feel about just how important is it for Muslims and Islam in general to be dealing with the way that the world has been changing and how the perception of the religion has changed over the past dozen years?\n\nLH: Well, so when I was growing up religion was never an issue. As a matter of fact when I was at Aligarh Muslim University and I think it was my first year and we were all talking about our high school, one of my friends said that, you know, whenever you talk about your friends you never mention any Muslim name. And I didn’t realize what he was saying, so I said, well, these were all my friends, and nobody was a Muslim friend. And he said, why not? And I said, why? I mean, you make friends with people that you feel they have common interest so you have an empathy or just for so many reasons why you become friends with somebody, and I said, and I became friends with people that I cared about and they have been my biggest friends and they are still my friends even today after so many years.\n\nAnd in American nobody ever asked me about my religion or if they did they were a little bit curious that what exactly is Islam and whatever and they always respected. So it was okay, but then as I said that in India in 1993, in American in 2001, changed that perception. In India it was very unfortunate because it was – it shouldn’t have happened but it has changed the entire society, the entire way of thinking and whatnot.\n\nIn the United States it hasn’t affected a lot, but I feel that as a Muslim there are more times that I am on a defensive trying to justify what I represent or what my religion represents than not being on the defensive.\n\nZH: And so since that refers back to IMAG, what are some of the contributions that IMAG has done towards that goal of being less defensive and being more proactive in showing the better sides to community of both Indians and Muslims in this area?\n\nLH: So our signature event is an event that is called Eid Milan where on the occasion of Eid we invite 400 people to come and break bread, eat Sevai which is an Eid staple. We tell them a little bit about who we are, why do we fast and why we celebrate Eid and all that, but year round we do different things helping in the community, being visible, having friends participating in ICC events, to just let them know that we are as much a part of the fabric as anybody else around. So that is what IMAG does, but also we have now spawned two other organizations, one is called Club 65 which is serving people, seniors of the community, and it is absolutely secular because our President is a non-Muslim, members are, again there are some Sikhs and there are – all religions are represented in our organization, and it’s wonderful because I think older people are a little bit more intolerant than the younger generation, but to see that they can all sit and eat and respect, so we have vegetarians and we have non-vegetarians, but at every meal the people that are in-charge of food will make sure that the vegetarians are first taken care of, and that’s a wonderful thing.\n\nSo these are things that we are doing and serving the community and serving the entire community, not only the Muslims, and it’s a good feeling and ‘SAYA’, the South Asian Youth Alliance which serves young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 also has people from all religions and all kinds of backgrounds, it’s called actually the South Asian Youth Alliance for not only there are people from different religions but also Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalis, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, we are trying to get all of them together because the kind of mistrust that is over there in that part of the world, we want to remove that mistrust here and say that, hey, we are all Americans, and yes, our parents came from different countries, but we can respect each other, we can learn from each other, and we should do that.\n\nZH: And so going further on that what would you say that for the youth that you are reaching out to, what are some of the biggest challenges that you face working with you, with the newest generation, as well as what are some of the things that you want to maintain for the future, I mean as they are Americans they are also South Asian and Indians first and foremost at least for the group, and what are the most important things that you feel you want to pass on to them and impart to them and have them know the importance of?\n\nLH: So there is a difference between what I want and may be what you want. I am a first generation emigrant.  I still have both cultural social and family ties to India which are very, very strong. You were not really born here but you’ve grown up here and even though you have cousins and aunts and uncles may be the ties are not that strong, but as a parent I would like to see that you must always remember your roots. Where did the family originate, where did they come from, who were they and the journey from there till here, how was that accomplished?\n\nIt’s important to know the roots because you are who you are because of all that has happened in the past. When my grandfather – actually great grandfather migrated from the village to the city and then my father decided that okay enough of doing this work I am going to make sure that all my children go to school and college and graduate, it was a big transformation. And then when I decided to come here and then you guys, so it has been, but it is very important that you should always know your history, your root, your background, because that is what you are and it is what defines you as a person. And so, my goal always is that if I can succeed in maintaining that information pool I have done my job.\n\nThank you so very much for all those questions. I think it was fun for me. I hope it was fun for you as well. I guess I would like to definitely thank to Foundation for India Studies for having put this thing together, because it’s very, very educational. Thank you!\n\nZH: Thank you!","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487#t=1815.0,3082.84643"}]},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["English [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108912/file/218487/transcript/62226/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"subtitling","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/file_transcripts/associated_files/000/062/226/original/FIS-OH0034LatafathHussain.doc?1701796312","format":"text/vtt","language":"en"},"target":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/file_transcripts/associated_files/000/062/226/original/FIS-OH0034LatafathHussain.doc?1701796312"}]}]}]}