Indian families finding familiarity in Frisco

Indian community now comprises 14 percent of Collin County population

“Me and my family moved here in 2014 and used to live in Plano. But because Plano was so overpopulated, we thought we’d take our chances with the fast developing Frisco,” junior Jaya Balakumar said. “I feel like many Indian families find Frisco attractive because there’s a lot of opportunities here for kids and the school district is known for amazing performance in education and extracurriculars.” 
(from left: sophomore Sathya, Vanishree, Balasubramaniyan and junior Jaya Balakumar)

provided by Jaya Balakumar

“Me and my family moved here in 2014 and used to live in Plano. But because Plano was so overpopulated, we thought we’d take our chances with the fast developing Frisco,” junior Jaya Balakumar said. “I feel like many Indian families find Frisco attractive because there’s a lot of opportunities here for kids and the school district is known for amazing performance in education and extracurriculars.” (from left: sophomore Sathya, Vanishree, Balasubramaniyan and junior Jaya Balakumar)

Frisco is the nation’s fastest growing city and is home to a vast amount of diversity with reasonably priced suburban homes for middle class families. It’s also becoming increasingly more appealing to immigrant families, especially ones from India.

“My dad’s job and the quality of education got me to Frisco,” junior Havish Gattu said. “Since most Indian families are nuclear ones, it really works well with the number of schools in Frisco.”

There’s a lot of opportunities here for kids and the school district is known for amazing performance in education and extracurriculars,

— junior Jaya Balakumar

Gattu’s experience is part of a trend with the Indian community comprising 14 percent of the population in Collin County.

“Me and my family moved here in 2014 and used to live in Plano. But because Plano was so overpopulated, we thought we’d take our chances with the fast developing Frisco,” junior Jaya Balakumar said. “I feel like many Indian families find families attractive because there’s a lot of opportunities here for kids and the school district is known for amazing performance in education and extracurriculars.”

Frisco’s growing diversity and cultural acceptance is a draw for many Indian families.

“There are many people accepting of different cultures and traditions,” Balakumar said. “Which really frames the community as an accepting and pleasant one to be apart of.”

One of the major draws for Indian families is the 2015 opening of the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple on Independence Parkway.

“It gives us a public place to pray so it’s great,” Gattu said. “It may be a slight pull factor, however I honestly believe that temples are only established because of other Indian families coming to Plano and Frisco. This is most likely because of the quality of the education here as well as the present ethnic communities of Indian people.”

Ultimately it’s parents that make the decision to move and for the Balakumar family, Frisco presented a great opportunity.

We moved here for better education for me and my sister. We have relatives living here so we decided to live in Frisco,

— junior Devanshi Pudsalla

“Frisco is a very fast developing city which brings many more opportunities for success,” mom Vanishree Balakumar said. “This was the main motivating factor for us to move to Frisco compared to everywhere else. Apart from this, with the already large Indian population present in Collin County, it is more comfortable for families like us to be around people from nation as well, which is why many Indians keep moving to Frisco. It offers more opportunities for kids and adults.”

The influx of families from India doesn’t appear to be slowing. Junior Devanshi Pudsalla and her family moved here in May 2014 from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India with Frisco ISD one of the primary factors in her family’s decision.

“Honestly, we moved here for better education for me and my sister. We have relatives living here so we decided to live in Frisco,” junior Devanshi Pudsalla said. “Education is what attracted us to move here. When I was in India, I feel like I have accomplished a lot. I have gained confidence and greater self-esteem through this change.”