HomeIndian AmericanStreet named in Berkeley to honor Indian woman
Don't Be Fooled by Gift Card Scams

Street named in Berkeley to honor Indian woman

Photo from South Asian American Digital Archives

The city of Berkeley across from San Francisco recently became just the second city in the nation to name a street after an Indian woman.

The honor for Kala Bagai comes more than a century after her neighbors ostracized her for being Indian. The two block stretch of Shattuck Avenue will become known as Kala Bagai Way.

“My family and I feel great pride and love that Berkeley would honor my grandmother by naming a part of Shattuck Avenue for her,” granddaughter Rani Bagai said to KQED after the unanimous vote in September.

Kala had bought a home in Berkeley with her husband Vaishno Das Bagai, but racists put a lock on their home to prevent them from moving in. The couple retreated back to San Francisco for their own safety where they moved into an apartment above their store, according to Better India.

The couple came to the United States from Pakistan when only about 2,000 Indians lived in the entire country. Only a few Hindu woman resided in the United States at the time. They arrived with their three children, some gold and $25,000.

She married Vaishno at the age of 11. He was 12. She came to America not knowing a word of English.

“When it was time to eat, they said, ‘chow chow chow’, which I understood meant to eat. I didn’t like the food at all. But I saw they were selling some fruits, so I bought some. But I didn’t know how much money to give. So I took it and put it on my hands…and let him take whatever he wanted,” she said in an interview in 1982 with the South Asian Digital Archives.

According to Better India, her husband who already spoke English sent Kala to live with an American family to learn English.

KQED reports the council chose to honor Kala out of a list of a thousand candidates. The street renaming is part of a $10.3 million dollar project. Friends know Kala as “Mother India” for her “resilience, leadership and community activism.” This is the city’s first street named after an Asian American and one of the first named after a woman of color.

AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our new Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff, or making a financial contribution to support us.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest

Worth the Time

Must Read

Regular Features

Latest

Discover more from AsAmNews

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading