Judging by the latest results from the 2010 census, things are not
Judging by the latest results from the 2010 census, things are not going to get any easier for the affable law professor from Saddle River. And he couldn’t be happier.
“I don’t know more than half the people now,” he said. “Which is what we’ve always wanted to have happen.”
Data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau confirms what Khosla and many others in North Jersey’s Indian-American community already knew: Their numbers are way up.
North Jersey’s Asian Indian population continues to grow faster than almost any other group, increasing from one in every 85 people in 1990 to one in 39 today.
The number of people in Bergen and Passaic counties declaring Indian ancestry shot up from about 15,100 in 1990, to 26,300 in 2000, to 35,836 in 2010. Some of the North Jersey’s biggest concentrations of Indian-Americans are in Paramus, where they make up 6.3 percent of the population; Elmwood Park, with 5.9 percent; Englewood Cliffs, with 5.7 percent; and New Milford, with 5.2 percent.
The growth echoes increases across the state, where Indian-Americans now number 292,256 — a threefold increase since 1990 — and represent the largest Asian group in New Jersey as a whole. Middlesex County has by far the largest Indian-American population, with about 104,705 people, followed by Hudson County, with 37,236, and Bergen County, with 24,973. Passaic County has 10,863 people of Indian descent, with about two-thirds of them living in Clifton, Passaic and Wayne.
Koreans again were the only larger Asian group in Bergen and Passaic counties, numbering 59,011 people, with Filipinos ranking third, with 23,954. The Korean population was the fastest-growing population in Bergen and Passaic, growing by 57.1 percent, down from a 120.7 percent growth rate tracked in the 2000 census.
Unlike the state’s Korean-Americans, who have concentrated heavily in Bergen County, Indian-Americans have settled throughout most of northern and central New Jersey.
“All across New Jersey, the Indian population has been growing tremendously over the last 20 years,” said Howard Shih, the census program director for the Asian-American Federation of New York.
Shih cited high levels of employment, education and English proficiency as factors in the way Indian-Americans have spread throughout the state.
Diverse group
The newcomers are from all over India, and from all backgrounds. While the census does not break the numbers down by religion, there are Hindu, Muslim and Christian Indian-Americans.
Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin, himself the son of Indian immigrants, became the first Muslim mayor of a Bergen County town in July 2010. Hameeduddin said the growth of Indian-Americans is evident in the number of Indian restaurants and other businesses across Bergen County, and in places like Edison and Parsippany. He also recalled that there were Indian dancers in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“The population is growing into adulthood and is coming into its own,” he said. “Like any immigrant story, we started in the urban areas and moved out into the suburbs.”
In Clifton, immigration lawyer and Indian-American Sohail Mohammed said he’s not surprised by the growth. He noted that, while slowing a bit, it has come despite the economic boom taking place in India over the last decade, which has drawn many Indians back to their native country.
The numbers are swelled by a third generation of Indian-Americans now enrolled in some of the same schools where their parents once studied.
Sharad Sahu, a doctor of internal medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center, recently had the experience of bringing his son, Kishan, to the same kindergarten classroom at Ridge Ranch Elementary School in Paramus where Sahu’s mother had brought him as a child.
“It was fantastic,” Sahu recalled recently. “There was that feeling of legacy that we’ll now see with the up-and-coming generation.”
Back when he was a student, Sahu was the only Indian-American in the school. Now, however, his son has many Indian classmates.
Next generation
Besides the numbers, there’s also been a subtle cultural shift as the next generation settles into the culture of growing up in Bergen County.
“Our parents saw themselves as Indian-Americans,” he said. “Our generation identifies itself as Americans with an Indian background.”
At a recent religion class at the Hindu Samaj Temple, youngsters sat cross-legged on a carpet thumbing through well-worn religion texts. But beside them were an assortment of Hello Kitty and Dora the Explorer tote bags.
Opened three years ago, the sprawling temple serves both as a touchstone of the Hindu community’s spiritual life and as a cultural center that tries to preserve traditional Indian culture.
Sahu’s wife, Radhika, teaches a form of classical Indian dance known as Kathak to children ages 3 to 18 as well as dances from Bollywood movies.
“I wanted my kids to have some cultural awareness,” she said. “This was my way of passing it on to them.”
Last Sunday, her students performed before an audience of several hundred people for the first time at Mahwah High School, instead of the temple. The show attracted dozens of people from outside the Indian-American community.
The show itself showed signs of assimilation. Radhika Sahu and another traditional Indian dancer performed a trio with a non-Indian dancer schooled in classical ballet.
After their son performed his dance, his father took him to his Little League game.