Raju & Monica
Raju
Raju and his sister, Meena, are the children of Manu & Niru Shah, from Baltimore, MD. His parents are of the Halari Visa Oshwal Community originally from India, and the locales of his family ranges from India, to all over the world including: Kenya, South Africa, England, Australia, Canada and of course America. Most of his relatives are located in London, which was why he chose to move there late 2001. His time there has allowed him to become close to all his relatives and especially close with his maternal grandparents (Nana & Nani) and his eldest maternal aunt and uncle (Manjula Masi & Mahesh Masa).
Raju's grandparents all hail from the small farming villages in India, in the Gujarat Province, near Jamanagar. When they were young, both sets of his grandparents seeked a better life and moved to Kenya, which is where his parents were born. Raju & Meena's parents were born in East Africa in the cities of Mombasa (Raju's Dad) and Muranga/Fort Hall (Raju's Mom). They both initially moved to England to seek a better life and did their education in England. But the cold island of Britain was not meant to be the home for Raju.
His father initially came to the US in the late 60's as part of the British Universities North America Council (BUNAC) program. He fell in love with the country and couldn't be presuaded to leave, even after Raju's mother tried to convince him to come back to England. Post graduate studies brought his father down to Baltimore, where with several of Raju's uncles, they started to build a life.
His maternal grandparents are retired living in London. His father is semi-retired, and along with his mother, live in Baltimore. His sister has been living in the San Francisco Bay area for about 1.5 years, working as a software engineer.