When Kalpana “Kal” Srinivas left her native India to come to the U.S. as a young woman, she was already well educated. This was in large part due to the efforts of her mother, whose own education had come to a halt at the age of 13, when she was part of an arranged marriage to a 19-year-old man. Determined that her daughters would have more opportunities than she had been given, Kal’s mother sent them to a convent boarding school where the Catholic nuns had a reputation for excellence in teaching and discipline. Kal was a good student who continued on to college after convent school. She earned a degree in biology and chemistry from Rajasthan University with an eye on becoming a physician. But Indian medical schools required a monetary donation from the student’s family that hers couldn’t provide, so her dreams of further education were put on hold. Continue Reading
