A number of my American friends were instrumental in me applying at the Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation for a one-year degree program in 1954. One of them was Captain Glenna Rummel of the Salvation Army, whom I had met in Calcutta. (Salvation Army had a meeting place near my apartment in Chowringhee Square, where they would hold meetings on Sundays. They would invite me and some of my Indian friends. We used to go. I enjoyed the singing, especially.) Another friend was Edward Hirabayashi, a Japanese American who came to do a master’s at Banaras Hindu University. These two and other friends also helped me get a scholarship at Pendle Hill.

I boarded a cargo ship bound for New York — if I remember correctly, the name was Jala Halli — in December 1954. The fare was $500, but I got a $150 discount because I was a student. There were 40 passengers aboard.

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