Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome
Speaker 1: into his time now for our community connection right here
Speaker 1: on K one, the one you trust. And today it's
Speaker 1: a it's a very special day today because we're going
Speaker 1: to be talking about a gentleman who did so much
Speaker 1: for our community.
Speaker 2: And uh, the legacy is going to live on. Jonah
Speaker 2: christ nine is with us here and we're going to
Speaker 2: talk about father. How are you doing today? I'm great, Well,
Speaker 2: that's great. Now Vasu. Everybody knows him as Vasu and
Speaker 2: it was just, you know, it just fed and such
Speaker 2: a right and energetic fella. And we're gonna be remembering
Speaker 2: him in a special occasion, are we not.
Speaker 3: Yes, much of Bartlesfield does know that Kaivasudevin passed on
Speaker 3: September sixth, on a Friday, and for us from India
Speaker 3: and who are Hindus.
Speaker 4: Friday is a very good day.
Speaker 3: And it happened to be also a very special celebration
Speaker 3: on that day, so worldwide people were praying and Dad
Speaker 3: passed that evening. So yeah, I hope I won't get emotional.
Speaker 3: I was very much a daddy's girl and was his
Speaker 3: and it was his shadow for many, many many years
Speaker 3: and so I.
Speaker 2: Miss him, and we all do, but you especially because
Speaker 2: of being Daddy's girl.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we understand and unlike a lot of people,
Speaker 3: if everyone's attached to their parents, but I spent well
Speaker 3: all but ten years of my life with my parents,
Speaker 3: you know, growing up, and then typically you go to college, right,
Speaker 3: so that's four years, and then you get married, and
Speaker 3: you know, the normal way of going is you get
Speaker 3: married and then you have a independent house.
Speaker 4: Of your own and.
Speaker 3: Then you got on with your life, and of course
Speaker 3: you're connected to your parents, but there's that amount of distance.
Speaker 3: But my story is a little different in that I
Speaker 3: was married when I was eighteen, and Kumar and I
Speaker 3: were pretty much an arranged marriage, but not totally. And
Speaker 3: we had known each other before, the families had known
Speaker 3: each other before, which isn't uncommon. And he had already
Speaker 3: had a degree and I was getting ready to go
Speaker 3: into college. So he went back to get his engineering
Speaker 3: degree at Wichita State University, and I went and got
Speaker 3: my undergraduate in business and then a master's in business.
Speaker 3: And then afterwards we moved back to Bartlesville because Dad
Speaker 3: had a dream of owning a family home and he
Speaker 3: called my brother my sister in law and Kumar and
Speaker 3: I and my brothers. As many of you know, is
Speaker 3: doctor Gopie Voster Davin, who was the gastin gerologist here
Speaker 3: in town for twenty six or twenty two years, and
Speaker 3: called us all together and say, hey, I have this vision.
Speaker 3: I have this dream of owning a big house. And
Speaker 3: it's very much more of a traditional We're from the
Speaker 3: state of Katala, Katala home where there's extended family who
Speaker 3: all lives together. And it's a beautiful situation in that
Speaker 3: when the kids are growing up, you have grandma and
Speaker 3: grandpa's influence, where it has been shown that children who
Speaker 3: are around their grandparents they just do so well that
Speaker 3: you know, they get a difference perspective than that mean
Speaker 3: old mom and dad, you know. And then as the
Speaker 3: parents get older, in turn you take care of them.
Speaker 3: And some of even in Europe and stuff. I remember
Speaker 3: Gail came brought over a bunch of her a bunch
Speaker 3: of people from her congregation, and they were talking about
Speaker 3: in the old days in Israel and other places that
Speaker 3: you know, traditionally this was not uncommon.
Speaker 4: So we live that way.
Speaker 3: And so I lived with my parents for forty five
Speaker 3: years and it's then it's really tough. You guys can
Speaker 3: imagine it. It's really tough because they become not just
Speaker 3: your mom and dad. They become your friends and people
Speaker 3: you look up to highly.
Speaker 4: You know what I saying.
Speaker 2: The relationship changes for the better as you age.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel lucky.
Speaker 3: Sometimes people find it hard to let go of being.
Speaker 4: Mom and dad. Like Dad. You know, people who.
Speaker 3: Knew Vasu he was a very He was a very
Speaker 3: bright and living guy. But he was also a go
Speaker 3: getter and a no nonsense man. People who dealt with
Speaker 3: him in business knew that, and so sometimes there were
Speaker 3: little conversations about Dad, you need to kind of back
Speaker 3: off a little bit here, and he would smile and say, okay.
Speaker 3: But whether that really happened or not, I leave it
Speaker 3: up to the audience to decide.
Speaker 2: We're gonna have a very nice remembrance of Vasu coming
Speaker 2: up on Tuesday, October eighth. Tell us where we're going
Speaker 2: to hold this.
Speaker 3: That's going to be at the Service and Technology or
Speaker 3: STC building. Dad started three companies, for sure. He had
Speaker 3: a vision to start like two or three more. Gave
Speaker 3: it names and everything. It was in the process, and
Speaker 3: then the Good Lord took him when he was eighty
Speaker 3: six years old. But it's going to be at the
Speaker 3: STC Building one five South penn And for those of
Speaker 3: you who are not too savvy about, you know, using
Speaker 3: your phones or other stuff, if you go down Frank Phillips,
Speaker 3: you know that where the Frontier pool is, well one
Speaker 3: block west of Virginia. You'll make a right turn and
Speaker 3: we own that whole block, so you will come back
Speaker 3: more towards the Texio side and you'll see the main
Speaker 3: entrance to the building and they'll be parking there. But
Speaker 3: there's also parking around on the other side on Roger
Speaker 3: Street in the back, so there's plenty of parking. And
Speaker 3: we just welcome anybody to the bartles of the Bartlesville
Speaker 3: community who would like to come and pay respects to Vasu.
Speaker 3: There's no set program as such. It's more of a
Speaker 3: come and go. As we were talking about this morning,
Speaker 3: Dad was and our families, but mostly Dad. It was
Speaker 3: Dad that was selected into the Legacy Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: I shouldn't say dad, because Mom was just as much
Speaker 3: a part of his success as as he was. Mom
Speaker 3: and Dad were selected him of course. With the legacy
Speaker 3: that means your family is typically involved as well, so
Speaker 3: Gopi and I were honored as well. But we have
Speaker 3: a little tape of his that they interview the person
Speaker 3: who's getting the Legacy award and others from around the community,
Speaker 3: and myself and Gopy talk about him.
Speaker 4: We might play that in the background.
Speaker 3: I haven't really talked to Kumar about it, but having
Speaker 3: talked to you, I think that might be a great idea.
Speaker 2: It will be a great idea. I really think it'd
Speaker 2: be nice to hear the voice again and everything.
Speaker 3: It would be nice, but it's also kind of hard,
Speaker 3: you know, I know, I mean, it's comforting, you know,
Speaker 3: it's a bittersweet sit situation.
Speaker 4: It's comforting, but it's kind of hard.
Speaker 2: To be a little bit now your story with your
Speaker 2: entire family. It's an immigrant experience. It's interesting because so
Speaker 2: many people whose families have been here in the United
Speaker 2: States for a long time really have no comprehension of
Speaker 2: what it's like to pick up your family from halfway
Speaker 2: across the planet and move them someplace else where. The cultures,
Speaker 2: the languages, and expectations might be a little different, if
Speaker 2: not completely different.
Speaker 3: You're absolutely right, you know. The migrations started in the
Speaker 3: fourteen hundreds, to find America with good old Christopher Columbus
Speaker 3: in fourteen ninety two, and you know, the experience. Although
Speaker 3: we've had technology and times have changed, there are some
Speaker 3: things that ring true through the centuries. And one of
Speaker 3: those things for us is the immigrant Dixon experience. And
Speaker 3: just basically, well let me explain. In any case, I
Speaker 3: can give you an example. You know, when I went
Speaker 3: to school at Bartlesville High School and it came time
Speaker 3: to take the PSATs, the SAT the Act and.
Speaker 4: Gopy my older brother.
Speaker 3: He's eight years older than I am, and for all purposes,
Speaker 3: he's a third parent. And a lot of that is
Speaker 3: just because of Gopi's nature, but also because Gopi went
Speaker 3: through the school system and he was just brilliant. I mean,
Speaker 3: people who talk about me being smart in Bartlesville, I
Speaker 3: always my friends are so kind to me and say
Speaker 3: you are so smart.
Speaker 4: I was nothing compared to Gopi.
Speaker 3: And in Pittsburgh, where we migrated to, if he goes
Speaker 3: back there, if there are people who have actually lived
Speaker 3: in the community for a long time, they will remember
Speaker 3: Gopi because he was on the rate. I mean, he
Speaker 3: would do things like these kind of interviews. He was just,
Speaker 3: you know, so active in school and in the community.
Speaker 3: He was student body president and he was part of
Speaker 3: the school board and just at a young age, you know.
Speaker 3: But again the immigrant experience adds to that. In any case,
Speaker 3: Gopie was in the Prima at Pittsburgh State University in Pittsburgh, Kansas,
Speaker 3: and we had moved to Bartlesville. And in all honesty,
Speaker 3: a lot of people don't know, Dad didn't want to
Speaker 3: come to Bartlesville. Oh really, no, yeah, I mean because
Speaker 3: this community, you know, it's like the Garth Brooks song,
Speaker 3: thank God for unanswered prayers.
Speaker 4: You know, the good Lord knows what's best.
Speaker 3: But it was a horrible time for Vasu because he
Speaker 3: was with a company for over ten years in Pittsburgh
Speaker 3: and there was a kind of a conflict of thinking
Speaker 3: between the old regime and the new regime. A lot
Speaker 3: of people have experienced that, and he decided he wanted
Speaker 3: to change jobs. And so he was actually unemployed for like,
Speaker 3: I think eight months or something, six months eight months,
Speaker 3: and he went into a real depression. And all he
Speaker 3: wanted at that point was to start his own company.
Speaker 3: But he would put things together and it just didn't
Speaker 3: work out, you know, and so fine. One day he
Speaker 3: was talking to one of his very close friends, Keith
Speaker 3: Thayer and Houston, who had worked with him before at Atkinson's.
Speaker 3: You know, it was a client, and he said, well,
Speaker 3: I'm starting a new operation there in Bartlesville, an engineering company.
Speaker 3: Why don't you come work for me? And so that's
Speaker 3: how Dad came to Bartlesville. But he told my mom
Speaker 3: before he left, don't start backing anything, because my intention
Speaker 3: is to be back in Pittsburgh because we had built
Speaker 3: you know, again back to.
Speaker 4: This immigrant experience.
Speaker 3: We migrated in nineteen and those who have seen the
Speaker 3: legacy bear with me, they've heard this before, but we
Speaker 3: migrated in nineteen seventy. Dad was in this sense, we
Speaker 3: were not a typical immigrant family in that you know,
Speaker 3: Dad is his lineage is actual royalty in South India,
Speaker 3: like the people who met Vosco di Gama, the Indians
Speaker 3: who met Vosco di Gama, That sovereign or the quote
Speaker 3: unquote king of that region was Dad's. I mean Dad
Speaker 3: was a descendant of that family. Okay, so we are
Speaker 3: in our part of India, we're very well known, we're
Speaker 3: very prominent. And Dad was educated and he wanted to
Speaker 3: come to college in the nineteen sixties, and so with
Speaker 3: the help of his brother in law, who is doctor
Speaker 3: Gobal if you all know doctor Gopal, the pediatrician in town,
Speaker 3: his father who is already studying here. In those days,
Speaker 3: immigration wasn't as difficult as it is today. Even if
Speaker 3: you were a student, you could sponsor relatives to come.
Speaker 3: And so he spoke up for dad and he got
Speaker 3: to come to the University of Arkansas, Go hogs Go
Speaker 3: in nineteen sixty and he graduated from the university in
Speaker 3: nineteen sixty four and mad wonderful friends. And you know,
Speaker 3: people who talk about America, those people who are representing us,
Speaker 3: those of us who are from the Midwest, you know,
Speaker 3: get they have this idea that the East Coast and
Speaker 3: West Coast are the real Americas, especially the big cities,
Speaker 3: you know, Los Angeles and New York, well real America.
Speaker 3: And my humble opinion is the Bible Belt Midwest. I mean,
Speaker 3: people will literally take their shirt off and give it
Speaker 3: to you and Voss, you would say that all the time.
Speaker 3: And he was treated so well by so many people.
Speaker 3: And looking back, you know, I didn't think much about it,
Speaker 3: but after watching remember the Titans. You know, desegregation had
Speaker 3: just happened. This is nineteen seventy, you know. And I
Speaker 3: experienced a little pushback when I was growing up as
Speaker 3: a young girl in Pittsburgh, Kansas because but you know,
Speaker 3: kids can be mean.
Speaker 4: I was little.
Speaker 3: I had started My whole education experience has been in
Speaker 3: the United States. When I migrated, I was only about
Speaker 3: a year and a half old. Now Gopi was eight
Speaker 3: years older. So he had studied in India and learned
Speaker 3: a lot of the really great Indian work ethics for studying.
Speaker 3: And he will humbly say that you all think I'm smart,
Speaker 3: but so many people from India and from that system.
Speaker 3: I mean, it kind of works against you, but it
Speaker 3: makes you so much smarter and stronger as a student
Speaker 3: because you better study your stuff and basically become an expert.
Speaker 3: Otherwise you're not going to do well. People come to
Speaker 3: America and go, this is a piece of cake.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: So going back to my story, Gopi was very knowledgeable
Speaker 3: and was a third parent. But it was because he
Speaker 3: had gone through the school systems and I was getting ready.
Speaker 4: To take the act SAT.
Speaker 3: Gopy was a pre med It was hard to get
Speaker 3: hold of him. He was in Pittsburgh and we still
Speaker 3: hadn't had cell phones, and it was expensive to call
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh long distance, and so we were like, unless it's
Speaker 3: an emergency, you don't use the phone and call lugg distance,
Speaker 3: or it's very well planned ahead, because we were trying
Speaker 3: to save every penny in indiaan those days. When Dad
Speaker 3: migrated in nineteen seventy, they wouldn't let people take any
Speaker 3: more than a very small amount of cash I'm wanting
Speaker 3: to say, like five hundred dollars from the country. So
Speaker 3: Dad came to this country in nineteen seventy with two
Speaker 3: small kids, his wife who was wearing sorry and then
Speaker 3: the native dress of India, and and himself at two suitcases,
Speaker 3: five hundred dollars in his pocket, no promise of a job.
Speaker 3: And my uncles who met him there at the mad
Speaker 3: Us there at the airport, my uncle in Seattle, Ramachandran, says,
Speaker 3: you should have seen your dad's face, Thujata. He was
Speaker 3: coming basically with nothing, like so many other immigrants, I mean,
Speaker 3: from a great family, had a lot of money back there,
Speaker 3: but he couldn't take it. Came to this country and
Speaker 3: he was smiling from ear to ear, and he my
Speaker 3: not nervous, not scared, smiling from ear to ear because
Speaker 3: he had been bitten by the America bug like so
Speaker 3: many others. And the place that he worked in India
Speaker 3: at the time, he worked for some very major companies.
Speaker 4: Like Tata Motors, which is.
Speaker 3: The company who actually ended up buying Jaguar. They're very
Speaker 3: big company in India, steel company, and they went ahead
Speaker 3: and he was working for Tatai Industries and so that's
Speaker 3: like one of the best jobs that ever happened, that
Speaker 3: you could have ever had. And then he worked for
Speaker 3: another company called Akinson Armature where I mean, I'm sorry
Speaker 3: McNally bird and they have a collaboration in Pittsburgh, and
Speaker 3: that's how Dad got his first set of experiences. Was
Speaker 3: trained right out of college in Pittsburgh and then worked
Speaker 3: in India. But India, especially the part of India where
Speaker 3: he was working in Bengal, was turning more communists and
Speaker 3: it was a very corrupt system and he didn't want
Speaker 3: to deal with that. I mean, Dad couldn't make thousands
Speaker 3: of dollars from bribes, dollars from bribes, not Indian rupees,
Speaker 3: dollars from bribes, but that's not who he was, and we're.
Speaker 2: Going to remember him for who he was.
Speaker 4: Coming up on Tuesday, Tuesday the.
Speaker 2: Eighth, and that is going to be at the STC
Speaker 2: Offices and that is at one oh five South penn
Speaker 2: from four point thirty until six thirty. Thank you for
Speaker 2: sharing your story with us today.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3: Such an outpouring from the public, that's why we're having
Speaker 3: this event for debt for Dad. We really hope anyone
Speaker 3: who would like to come would come. We'd be very
Speaker 3: happy and touched to see you.
Speaker 2: Thank you,