The Sridharan’s Connection with UW-Madison Began in the 1960s: Three Generations of Badgers (Part 2 of 2)
Three Generations of Badgers: Malini Lakshmi Krejcarek (l-r), Anjali Padmavathi Sridharan, Dr. Lakshmi Sridharan, Dr. B.N. “Shree” Sridharan, John Henry Krejcarek and Chandini Julia Krejcarek
By Jonathan Gramling
It’s almost out of a romance novel. Bhavani Sridharan and Nagalakshmi Ramaswamy grew up in different parts of India and came half way across the world to find love and a world-class education. Bhavani hails from Bhavani in the north.
“Bhavani is the holy city where the smaller river Bhavani confluences with the larger river Kaveri,” Bhavani explained.
Nagalakshmi came from the city of Nagpur in the south.
And what brought Bhavani — known by his shortened name Shree — and Nagalakshmi — known by her shortened name Lakshmi — together was the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an institution that has played a large role in the lives of three generations of Sridharans.
What Shree remembered fondly was the UW-Madison football games. He wanted to attend one, but he didn’t have a ticket. He didn’t let that stop him.
“I went to the Camp Randall stadium and went upstairs where there were offices of athletic directors, coaches and others,” Shree said. “I knocked and entered the office of an athletic director. The gentleman was very polite and asked, “can I help you?” I explained I was from India and I was very eager to attend the football game. “Mmmm” he mumbled and said ,” You see, the entire game is sold out and there are no s……..” he stopped in mid-sentence and said, “You wait here, for a second” and went out. He came back after a few minutes and thrust a ticket in my hand and said, ‘Here, this is what we call a VIP ticket and is complimentary. Enjoy yourself!’ It was a comfortable double seat and it was on the 50 yard line!”
Eventually Shree and Lakshmi obtained their degrees, Shree earned his Ph.D. in endocrinology and reproductive physiology and Laksahmi earned her Ph.D. in water chemistry and eventually worked for the DNR.
They married and made a conscious decision to remain in Madison.
In order to stay in touch with their Hindu culture, Shree and Lakshmi routinely make extended trips to India. And they also have always made sure the culture was reflected at home.
“In every household there is a pooja room or a prayer area where the metal idols, —‘vigrahas — or framed pictures of Gods and Goddesses are kept and prayers performed in front of them,” Shree said. “Many or most of Indian women still wear the colorful sarees with grace.”
And they observe the holy days from back home.
“We celebrate traditional Hindu festivals with Anjali and family at home,” Lakshmi said. “Shree and I tell them our mythological stories, and talk about our family traditions to them. Get them to visit India when possible, spend time with family members, visit temples and shop for traditional items like clothing and accessories.”
And there is a larger Indian community now than when Shree and Lakshmi were students.
“Now there is a substantial number of students and faculty from the Indian subcontinent in and around Madison,” Shree said. “In addition as India produces a lot of trained computer scientists, they come to work as consultants and contract workers and work in the university and major companies such as American Family Insurance in Sun Prairie and Epic in Verona. There is an even a religious Hindu Temple in the suburb of Fitchburg. We have an active India association for and by Indians.”
And Indian observances are starting to permeate the mainstream.
“Recently Governor Evers invited Indians living in Wisconsin and celebrated the famous Indian function Diwali or Deepavali, in the Governor’s mansion,” Shree said.
Their daughter Anjali grew up in Madison and like her parents, attended UW-Madison.
“I attended UW-Madison twice, first from September 1989 to May 1994,” Anjali said. “I majored in Electrical and Computer Engineering and took lots of language courses in German, French, and Spanish. I then returned for my MBA in Marketing in September of 1999, and completed my MBA in 2001.”
And like her parents Anjali and her husband John met as students at UW-Madison.
“The academics were extremely demanding and almost all time was taken up by the demanding curriculum,” John Krejcarek, Anjali’s husband said. “I enjoyed becoming a member of Kappa Eta Kappa, the electrical engineering fraternity on campus and all the friends I made there are still my close friends now. My best memory is meeting Anjali in the electrical engineering program.”
“I am so happy that UW-Madison helped me meet John,” Anjali said.
Anjali also took advantage of UW-Madison, exploring many aspects of student life.
“I enjoyed becoming part of the India Students Association to connect with people from my heritage and also I became part of the same electrical engineering fraternity as John, Kappa Eta Kappa. Both of them gave me the opportunity to meet new people. I also developed a love for languages on campus and my favorite building was and is Van Hise Hall. That building gave me the opportunity to learn three languages and it opened doors for my summer internship in Germany in 1991 and then in 1997 - 1999 I lived in Basel, Switzerland because I was fluent in German and worked as an IT consultant. All of my positive life experiences were influenced by my experiences on the UW-Madison campus,” Anjali said.
But it wasn’t all fun for Anjali.
“It was extremely difficult being a young woman in electrical and computer engineering,” Anjali said. “There were maybe two other girls in the undergraduate program. In addition, the academics were very difficult and demanding.”
John and Anjali were married in the first traditional Indian wedding, a three day celebration held at Monona Terrace, in Dane County’s history.
Like Anjali’s parents, John and Anjali have done quite well with their UW-Madison degrees. John is a manger with Mattel’s American Girl division and Anjali is a business process improvement manager with UW-Madison’s Office of Sustainability.
John and Anjali have two daughters, Chandini and Malini Krejcarek. And Anjali has kept her family connected to India and its culture.
“I like to go to India whenever possible, connect with family in the United States or wherever they are, and celebrate Indian festivals with friends and family at different times of the year,” Anjali said.
And while John is not Indian by birth, he celebrates the holidays with his family.
Chandini is currently a sophomore at UW-Madison, majoring in environmental engineering. And she faces the same academic rigor as the generations who came before her.
“I am an engineering major, academically it is very challenging,” Chandini said. “The average in most classes is like a 70. There are a lot of challenges to understand and do well in engineering majors. I am also getting a French certificate and that in combination with an engineering degree is requiring me to take classes over each summer as well to make sure I graduates in four years.”
She, along with some dorm friends, got engaged in student life.
“I went to Sencha Tea Bar trivia every other Thursday freshman year and drank Boba,” Chandini said. Afterwards, if we did well at trivia, we would go to Insomnia cookies and buy one each and feel sick after so much sugar. We participated in Wisconsin Late Night activities — like grocery bingo and we all won some free snacks like Oreos, sparkling waters, and other snacks. There was another one which was a parody of the The Amazing Race, where we ran around the Lakeshore dorms. I participated with my dorm friends with various trivia competitions on campus. That was our Go-to thing to do. I also participated in Hoofer's Club and learned to sail. This year, I joined Theta Tau, the professional engineering fraternity and have been doing a lot of community service activities.”
And while getting immersed in student life at UW-Madison, Chandini has also stayed in touch with her cultural roots, with a little help from her grandparents.
“I made a couple friends who have Tamil heritage and whose families hail from the same region of India,” Chandini said. “Because I go to college in Madison, I am still close enough to celebrate Deepavali (or Diwali) with friends and my grandma. Lakshmi brings Indian food over to my apartment or I goes to my grandparents home for a home-cooked, Indian meal. And whenever possible at Indian events, I wear traditional, Indian outfits.”
Malini is following in the footsteps of her grandparents and parents. She is graduating from West High School and is set to study at UW-Madison this fall, majoring in mechanical engineering. And while she technically won’t be a student until early September, she has already begun to engage in campus life.
“Joining a new community at Hoofers Club, I enjoyed learning how to sail, how the boats work, and getting to know professors and students through the process,” Malini said. An added bonus was seeing the beautiful sights in Madison while sailing.”
And like her sister and mother before her, Malini is deliberate about staying connected to her culture.
“I’m following my grandma and mom's lead, staying connected to the Madison Indian community and making a point to do traditions that happen on holidays like the rice dumplings, dancing during the spring festival of Ugadi, and applying values that I have gained through being in a Hindu family, like putting the high value on teachers and education,” Malini said.
Through three generations, UW-Madison has played a central role in the Sridharan family. They have balanced family and work and Indian culture and American culture in a way that allows them to remain true to their roots while taking advantage of everything that UW-Madison and Wisconsin have to offer. Go Badgers!
