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INDIAN NATIVE, ENTREPRENEUR, ROTARIAN, CANDIDATE SHARES STORY
"I came to this country 37 years ago because I saw that there was unlimited opportunity here," Shantu Shah, Indian native, successful business entrepreneur, Rotary member and now candidate for political office, told Sunrise Rotarians on Feb. 22.
"I left Bombay on Jan. 26, 1969 bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. I was on my way to North Carolina State University to study electrical engineering as a graduate student. I had left behind my wife and a year-and-a-half old son. It would be one year before I saw them again. I had also left a good job in India to come to America."
"This country has been very good to me and my family and now I want to try to give something back," Shah said of his political activities.
But the entrepreneur spent most of his time talking about his native India and what is happening in that part of the world today.
Shantu Shah
Shah told the Rotarians that multiculturalism had existed in India for centuries. "We have had Muslims living alongside Hindus and Christians in India for many, many centuries. India is a Hindu country," he noted.
Correctly speaking: "India is a secular country" with predominant Hindu population.
(One could say India is a predominantly Hindu. There is a very large population of Muslims - second largest after Indonesia. Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Christians are also the citizens of India. )
He extolled the virtues of India's culture. Of the Indian music, he said, "I think if you heard it, you would like it." And he showed examples of India's art and architecture.
"I hope that you will have a chance someday to visit my native country. It is a beautiful country."
Shah said that he is inspired by three great Indian leaders: "Ghandi, Patel and Ghandi. That is, Mahatma Ghandi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Indir Ghandi."
"And in particular, I have been inspired by Kasturba Ghandi, Mahatma Ghandi's wife from whom he learned the method of non-violent confrontation. And it is her grandson, Arun Ghandi and his wife who will be coming to Portland in September to address an Interfaith Festival of Faith. I hope that you can all attend," he suggested. Ghandi is incorrect six (6) times in last two paragraphs. It's spelled as Gandhi.
Shah is an active member of the Beaverton Rotary Club.
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