Anuradha Palaparti: The science of leadership
By Heidi M. Pascual
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Anuradha Palaparti is no Indira Gandhi -- not a tinge of politics in her system; not even a thought of being
in the midst of a situation where people's disunity is at issue. But as president of the Association of Indians
in America (AIA) Madison-area Chapter, Palaparti found herself leading the initiative to unite Indians in this
part of Wisconsin, perhaps a very small measure of Ghandi's predicament in 1966 when she became
India's prime minister facing a disunited Congress. Unlike Gandhi, though, Palaparti is surrounded by true
friends and Indian community members who are passionate about reaching the same goal.
AIA, since its inception more than 30 years ago, has aimed to foster and promote cultural and social
interactions among Indians in the U.S. and to raise awareness of their presence.
"India is a very, very diverse country," Palaparti said in an interview with Asian Wisconzine. "We have 26 states in India which are
divided based on the languages they speak, which have 26 distinct scripts. Here we have the Tamil community, the Telugu
community, and others. So, when we're far away from home, it's just wonderful getting together with all of them. As president of AIA,
bringing all these diverse people together, showing them that we all need to be together, is a big challenge."
Like in India, there are different religions practiced by Indians in Wisconsin -- Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and others -- but AIA
made it a point to be secular in order to include everyone in its membership. "People who did the AIA Charter were really smart,"
Palaparti noted in acknowledgment of AIA founders' decision to write a bylaw that was very inclusive. "They did not adhere to any of
our religious events. They also adopted the American way of living, that's why we celebrate Mother's Day. What we tried to do this
time on Mother's Day was have a variety of cuisine so that people from all Indian states could get together to cook dishes: some
from the south; some from the north; etc. For India Day, we're doing that again; we're having a lot of diversity in cooking. In dancing
too, we'll have bharatnatyam as well as kathak. We have booths to display regional toys as well, aside from doing the mahandi
painting."
Palaparti likewise acknowledged that she is not alone in this effort to unite various Indian groups in the Madison area. "I have
great friends; and the people in the AIA and its committee are very good friends, and they're always willing to be a part of
everything," she said. "They were so helpful. They will always come forward with great ideas and they're always there to help with
their implementation. I've been very lucky. I don't have to struggle for the most part. Hopefully it will continue to be that way."
Career
Palaparti has been very lucky indeed, not only in her volunteer work as president of the AIA (that continues its tradition of
presenting community events highlighting Indian cultures, recognizing Indian American community leaders and students every
year, and bringing people together) but also in her career and family life.
After completing her Ph.D. in biochemistry in Hyderabad University, she and her husband decided to do their post doctoral
studies in Montreal, Canada. Science has always fascinated Palaparti, and inspired her to continue her search for answers.
"I wanted to get into medicine," Palaparti recalled. "I got in first into the biochemistry school, and then I got stuck with it. Anyway, I
wanted to be in science so it was OK."
The excitement of discovery, a non-stop, ever-changing field, and the fact that there's so much more to know drew Palaparti to
chose a career in science. "I did my Ph.D. in reproductive biology, so I studied the estrogen receptive in rat uterine system and how
their receptive levels were fluctuating with the cycle," she explained. This initial work inspired her to work next with the peptide
hormone at the University of Montreal. "After a Ph.D., you are trained further to be an independent investigator, so I then moved into
neuroscience, specifically the development of the early stages of the nervous system. That was very fascinating. In the last 10
years there's been an explosion in science, lots discovered, but then when I started there was very little known about how cells get
differentiated into the neurons versus other cells at the molecular level. So I worked with that and we published some papers."
At the Montreal Neurological Institute where Palaparti worked with "neuronal differentiation," she wrote one of her best papers
and it was published in the Journal of Biochemistry. "That was a huge achievement because then it was more difficult to publish in
India," Paluparti said, noting the difficulty in getting foreign exhange and importing chemicals. "I helped Ph.D. students in the lab,
teaching them what to do, because in science you can't understand every piece of it; it's just a puzzle. You have to learn to put it
together; you might think that it's all working but there are subtle things that you would know only through experience."
When she moved to Madison with her husband, who was hired as a professor at the UW-Madison, Palaparti joined the
university's ophthalmology department where she studied the retinal degeneration in fruitflies.
From bio-science to computer science
Palaparti has a daughter, Teja, who at the time was 2 ½ years old. Her work as a lab scientist took her away from home for long
hours. "I came home very late because I would work 10 hours, and I'd go home and still continue to read," she said. "It was getting
to be a little hard. My daughter was the first in the day care center early morning and she was the last to be picked up in the
afternoon."
Since Madison was a "small town" in the late 1990s, there were very few biochemical industries. "I thought it was very hard for me
to stay in academia because if you want to be a good researcher, you have to face a lot of challenges," Palaparti said. "But there
were not many biochemical companies at that time, so I studied some programming course at the university, and later I found a
job in the software industry." She was hired by Compuware working for the State Department of Health and Family Services. Five
years later, Palaparti was hired by American Family Insurance as a software engineer. She has learned to love her job because
she works with people and helps them with their projects by developing processes.
Although the career change was drastic, she welcomed it because it allowed her enough time for her family, especially for her
growing daughter. "It's regular office hours, although occasionally I can be called to work extra, but that's not often."
Palaparti said that family bonding is important. As we were doing the interview, her mother, who's visiting from India, approached
and greeted us. "My mom was just telling me this morning, 'You know you need to spend time with your daughter; otherwise you
don't really bond,'" Palaparti shared. "'She will be off from school, and she's all by herself. You come at 4:30 or so, so who'll be here
to make her food?'" Palaparti's parents come to the U.S. almost every summer to visit. "They bond well with my daughter and they
play a lot of games together," she said. "My dad is an engineer by profession, but he's a great teacher too. He and my daughter
have a good time together talking about different things, helping her with math, and the like." Sometimes, Palaparti and her family
go to India when her parents or in-laws can't visit.
In terms of raising Teja, she described it as "traditional and non-conventional." "I think we try to meet somewhere in between,"
Palaparti said. "I make sure that she knows as much of the tradition and culture as possible so that when she grows up and she
has a family, she'll be able to at least tell them."
With her close-knit family and her determination to preserve part of Indian tradition that puts family first before anything else, it's
quite amazing how Palaparti is able to excel in all these three important fronts: motherhood, career and community service.
Palaparti's message to all: "To strengthen our diversity, I think we should learn from all our traditions, not give up any of them.
Draw our strength from traditions while living in this new country, new society. Learn the best from both worlds and have a great
life, and help the community too, to have a wonderful rapport with its members."