For this student newly arrived from India, Thanksgiving came to feel like home
She came to the U.S. for grad school. She was lonely. Then came an invitation for Thanksgiving — no turkey (strictly vegan) but a spirit that touched her soul. And her mango lassi was a hit!
Updated November 21, 2023 at 9:46 AM ET
Editor's note: This story was originally published in November 2022 and has been updated.
I celebrated my first Thanksgiving in 2002. I'd arrived in the United States in August of that year to start graduate school at the University of Missouri, Columbia. A few months later, I was invited to my first Thanksgiving dinner at a house shared by two Indians, one American, two New Zealanders and their sweet black Labrador, named Willow.
There was no turkey. The couple from New Zealand — the cooks in the house
