Dr. Sanjay Gupta & Suneel Gupta - Photo Kahani Movement

To most of us, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is recognizable as the trusted neurosurgeon on CNN who comes into our living rooms as the news channel’s medical expert in times of Swine Flu fears — to reassure — on occasions of Hurricane Katrina emergencies — to explain — and can even give viewers a tip or two about diet and healthy living. 

But recently Dr. Gupta and his brother Suneel launched the “Kahani Movement” — kahani is the Hindi word for story — as an online forum to preserve the stories of immigrants in the US. The project was officially launched on opening night of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and the personable Gupta brothers were there to introduce this initiative, as well as share their own personal tale which inspired them to begin this labor of love.

The Kahani Movement is open to one and all, stretches across many borders and reaches several diverse backgrounds. It was started as a means to tell stories that one might never get to hear, simply because one never bothered to ask. From a Sikh man reading a poem he authored about the struggles he faced when he moved to the US from India; to the charming — yet sad — recounting by a distinguished older gentleman of how he and his wife were told “No gypsies, no gypsies!” by a prospective landlady only because the wife wore a traditional salwar kameez; to the enthusiastic Gupta brothers telling the story of how their parents met — by kismet — the accounts are as wonderful as they are diverse. Some will raise the little hairs on your arm, warm your heart and soul and all are guaranteed to make you addicted to the Kahani site.

In these times when the internet has been slated to upstage beloved newspapers and is even threatening actual hard copy book production, I was relieved to discover that through the online Kahani Movement some important traditions are being preserved. Whether you will choose to share your own story on the site or listen to others’ being told, I leave you with some wise words from the brothers Gupta: “The way we remember them is the way we’ll be remembered.”