As Indian Americans celebrate the 63rd anniversary of  India’s independence, News India Times attempts to gauge the awareness among Americans about India and its modern history, Bhargavi Kulkarni reports

When Wendy Zeidman’s 5-year-old daughter, Maya Luna, came home from preschool last year waving an Indian flag, Zeidman was happy her daughter was learning about other cultures at such an early age. But when Maya started asking questions about the country, whose independence day was right around the corner, Zeidman realized how little she knew about India.

“We live in a neighborhood with lots of Indians,” she told News India Times, “but unfortunately we know very little of the country’s culture and history.”

According to Zeidman, 38, a high school teacher and a resident of Monroe, N.J., the average American probably knows about India through Apu (“The Simpsons”), Kumar (“Harold and Kumar” movies), outsourcing, Bollywood and the “Kamasutra.”

Many echo Zeidman’s sentiments. Most of those News India Times spoke to agreed that despite knowing people from India – a friend, co-worker, neighbor or a local shopkeeper  - their knowledge about the country’s history is very limited.

“I remember very vaguely what I learnt in school,” Erin Hanley, a preschool teacher in Dayton, N.J., told News India Times. Though Hanley, 25, did not know the exact date of India’s independence, she said, she had heard of Mahatma Gandhi and knew that he played a major role in India’s fight for freedom.Hanley said she learnt about India in her senior high school year,  when they learnt about various cultures around the work.

Mike Zukkerman, a fitness trainer and a recent high school graduate from Kendall Park, N.J., feels the introduction to “a vast and interesting country like India” is mainly through the people you meet and interact with on a regular basis.

“We get to formally learn about the Indian subcontinent only in high school, but that too is very basic,” he told News India Times.

Zukkerman says he celebrates Diwali with his Indian-American friends and that this year he will “make it a point” to participate in any local event celebrating Aug. 15.

Cindy Hartwig, Hanley’s colleague at the Goddard School in Dayton, N.J., noted that a "lot of children" whose parents are from India attend the school. “We celebrate Indian holidays like Diwali, but have never discussed the country’s history,” she told News India Times.

Hartwig said she knew absolutely nothing about India, but working with a lot of Indians has helped her learn a few things about the country.

Tom Libassi, however, has learned a lot about South Asia in general because of his work and close association with Indian-Americans.

 As the executive director of the South Brunswick, N.J., YMCA, Libassi not only knows the date India became independent, he also knows a fair amount of the history and said he had heard about the Gandhi-Nehru families and had, “once upon a time, followed Indira Gandhi’s career.”

Since last year, Libassi, along with the Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central New Jersey, has celebrated India’s Independence Day with a flag-hoisting ceremony and cultural program at the South Brunswick YMCA in Monmouth Junction, N.J.

Though most associate India with curry and Bollywood, there are some exceptions like Mathew Sanzi, who give such a thorough run-down of India’s history, it could even put an Indian to shame. The 32-year-old political science student pursuing his Ph.D. at Columbia University in New York City said his knowledge of India is “a combination of what I learnt in school and college, supplemented with lots of extra reading.”

He describes himself as a “history  junkie” and says the history of every country is fascinating and helps you “understand the people and their psyche better.”

Jodie Mahoney, principal of the Brooks Crossing High School in Monmouth Junction, N.J., thinks that even though school curriculums across the country are trying to incorporate more cultural awareness, “it is always a tough fight.”

 She is more aware of the current political scenario in India than the history of the country and its freedom struggle.

“One always associates India and Indians with family values, culture, diversity, exotic food and beautiful costumes and colors,” she said, adding, she feels privileged to have friends and students who share their culture with her.

Like people who work in the educational field, those working in the corporate world with Indian-American colleagues or off-shoring jobs to the Indian subcontinent, seem the most familiar with the country.

Gary Frankland, vice president,  Shared Services North America at Marsh Inc., said he was aware of India’s freedom struggle as well as India’s current political scenario; he knows about Gandhi, his nonviolent movement and Nehru and the partition that eventually led to the formation of India and Pakistan.

In contrast to Frankland, Kevin Woolston (last name changed upon request) does not feel the need to learn the history of another country.

“I am familiar with India through the people I know, the books I read and the films I watch,” he said.

Woolston, 54, a small-business owner in Houston, says he has a lot of Indian- American and Pakistani-American friends and is comfortable with his knowledge or “lack of” it about India.

 “I had formed an opinion of India from the books, a college course and a few films I saw,” said Olga Keenan, a computer programmer from Woodbury, N.Y.

Keena, 36, is married to Murli J., a software engineer originally from Chennai, India.

“Before I met J., I knew a little bit about India, but not a whole lot,” she said.

Now that she is part Indian, she says she has tried to expand her knowledge about the country.

“All the reading, friends, family and several trips to India have helped me familiarize with not only the country’s culture and heritage, but also the country’s history as well as the current political scenario.”

Another person who has made it a point to study about India is Gayle Saltzman, a resident of Monmouth Junction, N.J.

“We live in a neighborhood with lots of Indians,” Saltzman told News India Times.

“So I took it upon myself to read a little bit of history and familiarize myself with the country.”

Saltzman, 45, a homemaker, said she knows a bit about India’s freedom struggle and that one of these days she plans to watch the film “Gandhi” with her 10-year-old son.

“India was once a British territory and that now it’s the world’s largest democracy and people are crazy for cricket,” is how Long Island resident Mark Reichter describes India.

Reichter, a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs has visited India twice for work and told News India Times his travels have helped him understand the country better.

Peter Master, a karate instructor in North Brunswick, N.J.,said his knowledge of India is minimal.

“I know that Indian movies are very entertaining and long and of course Indian food is tasty and everybody in India plays cricket, but it ends right there,” he said.

Rachael Hartman of Boston had the “privilege” of experiencing India “firsthand.”

A Ph.D. in Sanskrit, Hartman says her multiple trips to India have “helped her gain a lot of knowledge about the country’s rich past and promising future.”

Before her first trip, "India was a land of maharajahs and the Raj, Krishna, Buddha, Gandhi, Nehru, saffron, silk and spices, the Himalayas and ancient Hindu shrines.”

 Now she says, with all that, India is also a modern country, with a very educated and chic populace.