{"id":9309,"date":"2013-10-08T16:03:43","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T21:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=9309"},"modified":"2013-10-08T16:03:43","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T21:03:43","slug":"meet-nilofar-gagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2013\/10\/08\/meet-nilofar-gagan\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Nilofar Gagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nilu\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Who she is\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Nilofar (Nilu) Gagan, a Business Administration major who believes inspiration comes from the people around her.<\/p>\n

Why she\u2019s
\ninteresting\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Gagan is originally from India, where she was born into a family of medical doctors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the first [in my family] to come to the United States,\u201d Gagan said. \u201cSince I was a baby, my parents always said that I was rebellious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said she was always against the traditional culture in India that did not allow women to have freedom to do what they wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn India, women are treated very differently, they are not free to choose what they want to do,\u201d she said. \u201cI never liked that culture, I was always against that. I wanted a guy that would marry me and let me do a job or study after getting married.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Gagan’s family arranged for her to be married to an Indian-American man from the United States, who she met through a family friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was always independent, he wanted women\u2019s rights,\u201d Gagan said. \u201cThat is why my father said it was okay to marry Adam and come to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said that she is very glad she married her husband, Adam.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very inspiring to me and to men in India,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope that they learn from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said if she would not have married Adam, she would not have control of her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I say \u2018Adam I am going out with my friends,\u2019 he would be fine,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s such a nice husband, I really appreciate him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said that when she came to the United States, it was not like she imagined at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a big risk to come here,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I came here, it was totally different. The diversity of people I did not expect at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her way to the United States, the plane Gagan was on stopped midway in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy plane stopped in New York and it was raining,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd when my flight landed, I saw the rainbow. I think that was a sign from God saying my life would be colorful here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan has a passion for helping others and seeing the inspiration that can come from the people around her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very interested in always making new friends,\u201d she said. \u201cI just like helping people, it really makes a difference when you help someone financially, emotionally or just as a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said on her street growing up, she knew of families that were poor and it was not uncommon to see children that were naked, sitting on the street eating dirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would ask them why they were so happy and they would say, \u2018the people, the people around me are just so nice,\u2019 and it would make me cry,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really makes a difference \u2014 everyone needs someone to talk to and to share to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said a big reason that she is involved in the International Students Organization at Sinclair Community College is because she wants to help others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make a difference in someone\u2019s life before I die,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to help those international students because I know how it feels when you leave your family and go to a totally new world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said one of the best things about Sinclair is the feeling she gets of not giving up on your life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best things is the diversity of age; you can have people that are 50 years old in your class \u2014 not that they are old, just inspiring,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is proof that they are not giving up. In India, you will find that people in college are all fresh out of high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan is president of the International Students Organization and A Culturally Educated Sisterhood club at Sinclair. She also works in the Student Leadership Development office and volunteers at Sycamore Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I question myself and wonder why I am doing all these things, but I don\u2019t regret anything,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring, I am inspiring myself. It\u2019s giving me motivation and reason to live a life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gagan said in the two years she has been in the United States, her life has changed for the better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what good I could have done in my life to let God bless me to come here,\u201d she said. \u201cI am very fortunate to be here and when I think back on my life I\u2019m like, \u2018man my life is fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who she is\u2026 Nilofar (Nilu) Gagan, a Business Administration major who believes inspiration comes from the people around her. Why she\u2019s interesting\u2026 Gagan is originally from India, where she was born into a family of medical doctors. \u201cI am the first [in my family] to come to the United States,\u201d Gagan said. \u201cSince I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-2q9","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9311,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309\/revisions\/9311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}