Where the heart is: Indian cardiologists keep customs
For Mercy physicians Lakshmi and Sirish Parvathaneni keeping Indian customs and traditions and exposing their children to that culture is important.
"It identifies you as a person I think — your culture and your past," Sirish explained. "If you don't know where you came from, you are not going to get where you need to be."
According to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, there are more than 100,000 Indian physicians in this country. A Mercy spokesperson said the hospital has about 50 foreign-born doctors — from various nations — on staff. A Cox spokesperson said the hospital could not provide an estimate.
Sirish and Lakshmi met, thanks to their fathers' desire for an arranged marriage, more than 20 years ago in India. At the time, Sirish was in the middle of his first year internship as a cardiologist in Chicago, where he and his family had lived since they came to America in 1967. Lakshmi still lived with her family in India, but she was about to begin her final year in medical school, also studying cardiology.
After a few months of getting to know each other, the two married in India. Lakshmi then moved to Chicago to complete her rotations and be with her new husband.
"A lot of people ask how we met and we try to explain to people. I get mixed reactions," Lakshmi said, adding that many of her female American friends say they wish their parents had done the same for them rather than having to hassle with dating and the single life.
"It's worked out well for us."
Lakshmi and Sirish moved from Chicago to Springfield in 2007. Lakshmi became Mercy's first female cardiologist and serves as the director of Mercy's Women's Heart Center. Sirish is a cardiac and thoracic surgeon at Mercy.
Sirish's younger brother, Sunthosh (Sunny), was born in Chicago and is a cardiologist with an emphasis in cardiac electrophysiology at Mercy.
In other words, the Parvathanenis are a family of heart doctors.
Keeping traditions
Celebrations and religious festivals are a big deal, Sirish said. Though Lakshmi and Sirish work hard not to spoil their two kids, Sirish said both of their children, ages 13 and 14, recently had large coming-of-age parties. His daughter's party, called a sari function, was held in the Indian village where Lakshmi's family lives.
"The whole village came so it was a lot of people. And they kept coming from other villages," he said. "My father-in-law is a physician and serves an under-served area in India so all these people came. It was at least 400."
His son's coming-of-age party, called a dhoti function, was held last month in Springfield. A religious celebration was conducted at the family home on a Friday; then a large party took place at 425 Downtown on Saturday.
The next big celebrations, though, will be all-American sweet 16 parties, Sirish said with a smile.
"We still hold on to some aspects of American culture because that's important too," he added. "They have to be an American first and then hold on to their values of home. Most Americans have the same values as we do from back home: hard work, dedication and belief in God."
Speaking of God, religion is at the heart of Lakshmi and Sirish's family. The family practices Hinduism in their home or they travel to the Hindu temples in Kansas City and Rogers, Ark.
"We try to make sure the kids get to know our culture and are exposed to the prayers and rituals of our culture," Lakshmi said.
A large Indian community in the Ozarks gets together about once a month for traditional Indian festivals and celebrations.
They recently celebrated Ganesha, the Hindu god of wisdom and new beginnings — easily recognized by his elephant head.
"He's the God we pray to before we do anything," Lakshmi said. "He's the God that prevents any obstacles so typically (the celebration) comes in the fall or end of summer. In India, that is when the planting season starts.
"We do a prayer and lots of food," she explained. "It's a community celebration with probably about 100 to 120 people."
To that Sunny added, "Indians don't throw small parties."
English, Hindi and Telugu are spoken within Lakshmi and Sirish's home, and Indian food is served as well as American and Italian dishes.
"I love Indian food," Lakshmi said. "If I have American food for two days in a row, I crave Indian food."
Her husband agrees.
"I love when my mom and her mom cooks Indian food," Sirish said. "That older generation prepares food that is amazing."
When dining out, they like Spingfield's Gem of India and Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant.
Sunny says he doesn't feel as strong of a connection to India as Lakshmi and Sirish because he was not born and raised in India. But that's not why he turns his nose up at Indian cuisine.
"A lot of Indian food is unhealthy, a lot of oil, a lot of butter," Sunny said. "That is how you get diabetes. ... It's not good for your heart."
Sirish and Lakshmi say nothing beats a trip back home when it comes to giving their kids a taste of their Indian roots. They try to visit India every year.
"In America we feel we are lucky for what we have," Sirish said. "When they go to India, they actually see the poor people that don't have a lot of resources. They don't have anything. I want to stress that to them. I think they need to know where they came from so they cannot take it for granted — what they have.
"I would like them to see what it's really like to have no money, to have no food."
Calling Ozarks home
Springfield is a great place to live, work and raise children, Sirish and Lakshmi say.
"People are honest, hard working and generally care about other individuals," Sirish said, adding that he wouldn't have encouraged his brother, Sunny, to come here if he felt otherwise.
Smaller than Chicago, Springfield allows them to spend less time fighting traffic and worrying about crime. Yet, compared to the smaller communities, Springfield Public Schools gives their children plenty of academic competition — something that is very important to them and their culture.
"You have to prove yourself. Competition always breeds better students," Sirish said.
Despite this area's predominantly white population, Sirish and Lakshmi say they've always felt welcome and accepted.
Sirish said that although he's overheard patients occasionally ask a nurse or receptionist if he speaks English he doesn't take offense — folks need to be able to communicate with their physician.
"Once you open your heart and you open up your knowledge to them, they are very accepting."
HEALING HANDS IN THIS FOREIGN LAND: Even though they are family and work in the same hospital — the same clinic, for that matter — getting the three Parvathaneni doctors together at the same time was no easy task.But with a little creative scheduling, reporter Jackie Rehwald managed to snag time with each of them for the first in an intermittent series that features foreign docs in the Ozarks.