About AIDS and Asian Americans

March 23, 2011

Dear Forum,

This was the year 1992. I had a fever which did not go away, and soon my aunt,

Professor Nabaneeta Dev Sen was calling me everyday to find out how I was and

what did the doctors say.

Well I soon found out what it was, and then my boyfriend made an appointment

with APICHA (Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of HIV/AIDS). My work ended at

5:00 pm and APICHA's office closed at 6:00.

So we thought would come by my office and we would take the subway to Wall

Street where the APICHA office was. Of all days, they shut down the subway and

we had to take a cab which was an impossible task given that 'everybody and

their uncle' wanted a taxi.

On the way in the taxi , turned to me and said I could not have found a

better city to fall sick in. Well we did make it, since Manzon stayed till

late, since we had called him to let him know that subways were closed, so we

would take a cab.

Well our initial intake was over and I started with APICHA.

There was a friend in the organization, Don K, who himself had AIDS, and

insisted that I be one of the people with AIDS on the board.

The next year my parents visited me in summer, and the day they left, Don said I

was leaving for an AIDS conference in Los Angeles. So I had to call from LA to

find out if my parents reached home.

Of the sessions, we were guided by lots of Japanese (Americans) and

Chinese-Americans who were here earlier than South Asians. They beautifully

conducted most sessions.

Since our hotel was in Japan Town, we went to see the internment of Japanese-

Americans during WWII. It was done so tastefully and without much fanfare. That

evening I spent time with a Japanese who was visiting USA for trade.

If it had not been for the invitation to the East Asian community, my life

would have been very choppy and a large part of it was due to Patel and his

insistance that I visit APICHA in NYC.

Thank you,

Sincerely,

Priyadarshi Datta, Phd, PLWA.

e-mail: <pdatta@...>

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