Engineering a Life (Voyage to the American Dream)

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In December 1961, twenty-year-old Krishan Bedi landed at a port in New York armed with only $300 in his pocket and a resolve to study engineering in the US. What transpires then is a story of one man's perseverance and determination to create the life he had always dreamed for himself as a little boy in India—a place where his options seemed anything but limitless.

Krishan K. Bedi's memoir reflects on the hardships and the triumphs in his path to fulfilling his dream of becoming an engineer and returning home to India as a successful man. A less& in attitude, survival, perseverance and grit, Bedi brilliantly narrates the story of the immigrant experience, his close-knit relationships and enmeshing cultures—a story that not only affirms the American dream, but also resonates with millions.

KRISHAN K. BEDI, a twenty-year-old from a tiny village in Punjab, had big dreams and ideas about what he wanted to do in life. He eventually earned a master's degree in industrial engineering at the University of Tennessee. After nine years in the US, he returned to India to have an arranged marriage. Together, he and his wife returned to the States, where Bedi developed a career as a healthcare executive. He's since served as member of several professional healthcare organizations, and is currently a member of the board of Indo-American Society of Peoria. Bedi is a contributing author to The Magic of Memoir, edited by Linda Joy Myers and Brooke Warner.

In his spare time, Bedi enjoys reading, cooking, spending time with friends and family, and participating each year in St. Jude's 465-mile Memphis to Peoria relay run, which has raised over $80,000 for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He now lives with his wife in Peoria.

In 1961, at the age of twenty, I arrived in the United States (US), landing at the port of New York after three weeks at sea with only $300 in my pocket. Coming from a small village of only 200 people, I had never seen anything like New York City before. I had made it here on sheer faith, by staying focused on my goal of acquiring education in the US. I'd overcome peer pressure to stay back in India, lack of funds, the feeling that I was abandoning my family and so much more just to get here. And now that I was here, I had to make it work. There was no other option but to succeed. I didn't know what would be waiting for me as I made my way to Tennessee, which is where I spent my early years in the States, nor did I anticipate the culture shock of being not just in the US, but in the South in the 1960s.

This is a story of succeeding against the odds, and of my perseverance and determination to create the life I'd always dreamed for myself, even as a little boy in India, where my options seemed anything but limitless. I didn't know when I started out and when my dream took a much more convoluted path than I could ever imagine. My experience of being an Indian college student in the South at a time when many people did not know much about Indian culture brings a unique perspective to a story that also focuses on following one's dream and never giving up, despite unfavourable circumstances.

Writing my memoir has been a wild experience, a long journey which started approximately eight years ago. After I regaled a colleague with tales from my student life in the 1960s in Tennessee, she exclaimed, 'You should write a book!' She nearly died laughing at my stories, and her words planted a seed at the back of my mind that maybe one day I really would write a memoir. A couple of years later, my daughter-in-law listened in awe as I told her some of my stories from my younger days as an Indian going to college in the States and trying to get a date to blend in with the other Americans. 'Your experience is very unique, she told me. 'Everything you went through back in the Sixties. You should definitely write a book.'

As I began writing down my memories, it amazed me how much I remembered in clear detail the early years of my life. Not even my closest family members knew some of my experiences or emotions, many of which I had kept to myself because it had been a hard time. It was my way to put on a cheerful face, especially later, for the sake of my wife and sons.

While I began writing my memoir, I knew I would remember difficult as well as funny memories. At times, tears came to my eyes as I delved into my past to remember every detail, even if it was painful or embarrassing.

My memoir will entertain and inspire, as it takes you through a life of hard work and determination, eliciting laughs at young and foolish days, and in the end, illustrating the power of hope in difficult circumstances.