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Forget about stuffed turkeys, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pies. This Thanksgiving season, Usha Raman instead presented a platter full of tandoori chicken, Hyderabadi biryani and gajar ka halwa at her dinner table. “This is the first Thanksgiving party I’ll be throwing in this country and I’m all excited about it,” gushed Raman before the big “turkey” day. She and her husband, both hi-tech engineers, moved to the United States four years ago and currently live in the Silicon Valley. “Every year we hang out with a few of our friends from India. But this is the first time I’ve decided to organize a full scale dinner party for the holidays,” she says.

The Ramans are not alone. Over the years more and more Indians living in the United States have started embracing American festivities with gusto – blending them to suit their lifestyles. Be it Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, July 4th or even St. Patricks Day, Indian Americans know how to bring the spirit of the occasion right into their home. These are not just Hallelujah-finally-a-break-from-work kind of holidays when all one gets to do is a bit of discount shopping.

Half-off-at-Macy’s or 75-percent-off-at-Bloomingdale’s is not the only highlight for the average Indian American during the holiday seasons.

Since the 1960s when the immigrant wave began with doctors, scientists and engineers, the Indian population in the United States has been growing exponentially. America is now home to around 1.7 million Indians. Perhaps it is the “strength in numbers” syndrome or the fact that a whole generation of Indian American children have grown up experiencing a dual culture – whatever the reason, we as a community have become more comfortable experimenting and enjoying traditional American revelry. We are no longer the little kid standing outside the bakery window and staring at the goodies inside. Somewhere down the line, we have learned to open the door, let ourselves in and order a whole lot of baked goods.

Meera Gandhi is a socialite in New York City. Two years ago, she and her husband Vikram made quite a splash catching media attention when they bought the historic Eleanor Roosevelt house and turned it into their home.

“We had not even heard of Thanksgiving when we came to the U.S. in 1987,” remembers Meera Gandhi, who serves on several non-profit agencies around the country. “We had our first child in ‘89 and that year we celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving in the home of one of our relatives. The Thanksgiving feast was both Indian and American. We had turkey and gravy as well as curry and rice. It was absolutely fabulous,” she recalls. The Gandhis now have three children and have a small Thanksgiving dinner every year. “Somehow, over the years, it has become more American than Indian,” she says.

It’s the same story everywhere. For every new immigrant parent, children are the undeniable link between two cultures – one that is Indian and all too familiar, and the other that is strange, enticing, yet a bit overwhelming. Children become the subliminal windows to new cultural experiences cultural experiences – providing every parent with an insight into snippets of American history and religious values, all within the comfort zone of their own home or immediate community.

“I learnt about the role of pilgrims and native Americans in Thanksgiving only when my daughter started school,” says Sonia Agarwal, a resident of Houston, Texas.

This adopted neo-culture has already weaved its way into the Agarwal household. During the holiday festivities, it is her seven-year-old daughter’s school-made paper turkey and Christmas art projects that adorn the walls of their apartment home.

Agarwal also points out that these celebrations are ways to feel a part of the mainstream population.

“Easter egg hunting is extremely popular in our house. On that day we go out as a family to a nearby community park and really enjoy the carnival atmosphere. Every year that day, my daughter is up early in the morning all excited to begin her egg hunt. We go out there and have pancakes; she gets her face painted and enjoys all the rides that are offered. And then she goes scurrying off to find all those chocolate eggs. Being there in the park that day with the rest of the city makes me feel like I’m a part of it – a sense of belonging. It’s the same during the Fourth of July celebrations,” she says.

The pattern of evolution of these cultural experiences is not too different with the initial array of immigrants – people who came here decades ago and are now officially citizens of the United States. Except in these cases, the passage of time affords us to take a look at how well these American celebrations have meshed with our lifestyles.

Kailash Joshi is a high profile entrepreneur and founding member of TiE, the powerful conglomeration of Indian American business leaders. Joshi remembers the time when he landed in this country as a strapping youngster eager to pursue higher education.

“I came here more than 40 years ago. And at that time there were very few Indian students on campus,” remembers Joshi. “Living and studying in a dorm, we would at times get invited to our mainstream American friends’ homes for Thanksgiving or Christmas. That was my first encounter with typical American traditions. Got exposed to turkey and gravy,” he recalls with a smile.

But it was not until the Joshis had their son that these festivities turned into a source of celebration at their own ménage. “Before my son was born we did not do anything big during Christmas or Thanksgiving. But after that, we started having a Christmas tree, with lights on it and gifts all around. We started bringing in the whole jolly atmosphere into the house,” he points out.

Since then, almost every holiday season, the Joshis have thrown a party inviting 15 to 20 of their closest friends to an elaborate dinner. The menu during Thanksgiving includes a definite turkey and mashed potatoes and a wide variety of entrees for their vegetarian friends.

“The meaning of Christmas or Thanksgiving is universal. To us it is not a religious celebration. It is just a part of our lives,” he adds.

Like the Joshis, the Gandhis too have perfected the art of finding a synergy between a little bit of “Indian” and a tad bit of “American” to define what they as a family represent. And this amalgamation of cultures comes alive every year at a lavish hoopla that Meera Gandhi throws at her Manhattan home. But then Gandhi herself has rich memories of Christmas that she brings across to the family table. “With my mother being an Irish Catholic, and so me a half-Caucasian, Christmas was always a big deal at our home in India,” she says.

“Even today my mother throws a lavish Christmas luncheon on the family lawns with 80 – odd relatives. Shaminana tents, red tablecloths and a Santa Claus in a bullock cart enthrall the grandchildren as much as us. It is quite over the top! Vikram and I take our children back to my parents’ home in India each year for Christmas so that we can celebrate it together as a family,” she adds.

Gandhi admits that, like her mother, she loves to throw big parties and this year it will be all about “fusion holidays.”

“We will have this party in December in New York with Diwali diyas on the steps of our home and Christmas decorations within. This time of year has morphed into a ‘fusion’ of sorts and it works very well. Our American friends love the Indian details and I love having the Christmas tree and presents under it for our children, so this is a perfect harmony for this wonderful time of year,” she elaborates.

But then there are also some among us who like to preserve these traditions for what they are and not give in to the commercial aspect of these festivities. Dr. Bala Sundaram, professor of physics at City University of New York, feels strongly on the subject.

“For as long as I can remember, my family has always spent Christmas or Thanksgiving with our Christian friends in the most traditional way. We attend midnight masses and celebrate the occasion with them. We have never had a Christmas tree at our own home,” Sundaram says.

“But now that our children have started growing up, and as they interact more and more with other kids at school, they want to bring in a tree and have presents and that sort of thing. But I don’t want them to associate Christmas with just the commercial aspects of it. I want them to experience its cultural angles too,” he explains.

And as far as mixing cultures go, “I’m not a fan of tandooring a turkey and I’m not sure if that’s the way to go,” he adds.

While Sundaram would like to see American traditions followed in its purest form – with less emphasis on the bells and whistles – he’d also like to see Indian festivals become more inclusive in mainstream America.

He has volunteered at his daughter’s school to talk to students about the story behind Diwali and has more radical ideas on popularizing it.

“I think it makes a lot of sense to move Diwali to around Thanksgiving or Christmas time in the U.S.,” Sundaram says.

Yet he quickly adds that his idea is not to downplay its religious connotations, pointing out instead that despite a huge Indian population in the U.S., not many people have heard about Diwali.

“It is not as popular as Hanukkah or any other minority celebration,” he says. “In New York, anyway, most of the Diwali celebrations organized for the community depend on the availability of halls. So why not have them at a time when it is a holiday for the rest of the country when we can spend the break celebrating one of our own festivals,” he asks rhetorically.

While Indian Americans seem to be adapting to and customizing American traditions, there is a growing movement to popularize what is uniquely ours. For the past two years, the Indian American Republican Council has held Diwali celebrations at the White House.

Dr. R. Vijayanagar, a heart specialist from Tampa, Florida, is the president of the organization and has raised millions of dollars for the Bush re-election campaign.

“This year we had close to a hundred Indian Americans at the White House when Ambassador Blackwill came and lit the lamp and addressed the gathering. We hope over the next few years Diwali will gain more popularity and be recognized around the nation,” he explains.

However, Vijayanagar says that taking this Hindu celebration and giving it the prominence of a Hanukkah at the national level is a mammoth task.

“Every time I pick up the phone and talk to a congressman or a senator about Diwali they have no idea what I’m talking about. I have to explain to them all about the celebration from scratch,” he adds.

“Before two years there were no Diwali celebrations at the White House. And now it is being recognized, though in a small way. We are headed in the right direction and we will make it big.”