HCC Legacy Awards Fete Asian Americans
Last Updated: July 04, 2008
 |
HOUSTON: In 1973 at just 17 years of age, Ghulam Bombaywala came to this country from his homeland of Pakistan with just a fistful of dollars in his pocket. Sheer grit and hard work catapulted him from working as a busboy in a restaurant to becoming a maverick businessman with several upscale restaurants of his own. He now dedicates a sizeable amount of his time toward helping others in the local community, and the needy back in Pakistan. Dr. Rathna Kumar left India over 33 years ago and came to Houston as a young bride. An Indian classical dancer of growing renown in her native Chennai, her gift as a performer and an extraordinarily proficient teacher of the fine art was soon apparent to the local community of immigrants, which led to the establishment of her dance school, the Anjali Center for Performing Arts, a first for Texas. Through Anjali, Dr. Kumar created awareness of the rich cultural heritage of India and fostered interest in the arts in the local communities and in the mainstream. Eminent Pakistan-born, award-winning author Bapsi Sidhwa’s five books Water, An American Brat, Cracking India, The Bride, and The Crow Eaters have been translated and published in several languages. She has received Pakistan’s highest national honor in the arts, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, and the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe/Harvard. Sidhwa has used the power of her pen to give women a voice in her native Pakistan.
These prolific leaders, along with five others from the Asian American communities in Houston, were honored for their innovation, creativity, and community activism, when the Houston Community College (HCC) named them Legacy Awardees at an event held at the Sam Houston Grand Ballroom and Conference Center on June 27. The honorees, all of them prominent within their communities and some of international repute, were nominated and approved for the Legacy awards by the HCC Board of Trustees. District V11 Trustee, Neeta Sane told gatherees that nominees were selected as they exemplified the vision of HCC by seamlessly integrating into the mainstream and in propagating diversity in their various fields.
“Asian American culture revolves around strong family values, strong educational values. We honor these leaders who teach by example,” said Sane.
Dr. Kumar and Sidhwa were not on hand to accept their awards; Dr. Kumar is in India, and Sidhwa is visiting Pakistan. As the HCC Legacy recipients stepped forward to the stage, a huge screen showed vignettes of the lives and works of the honorees. President and CEO of Voice of Asia Group of Publications, Koshy Thomas, began the Voice of Asia newspaper in Houston in 1986. Hailing from Kerala, he is active in the local community through his involvement with various organizations and foundations. Other nominees hailed for their philanthropy and recognized with the Legacy Awards included well-known attorney Gordon Quan with Quan, Burdette, and Perez Gordon Quan, Asia Houston Network President Gigi Lee, Farah Khan, a registered nurse with Houston Arrhythmia Associates, and restaurateur Glen Gondo.
HCC Chancellor Dr. Mary Spangler told attendees that Asian Americans presently constituted eleven percent of the student body as opposed to the five percent of six years ago.
“We provide an essential service that caters to a broader section of this metropolis. The awardees are the role models of our future leaders,” added Dr. Spangler.
This is the full-length article of the synopsis published in last week’s edition of Indo-American News
|
