Merchants From India Add Subcontinental Flavor to Texas Border City : Immigration: Hindu residents retain ties to their culture, but embrace American and Mexican traditions too.

The blending of more than two languages and cultures is apparent in the names of shops in the downtown district here: “Madre India,” “Ropa Hindu,” “Bombay Connection” and “Casa Hari.”

In the last decade, an enclave of merchants from India has grown up in this bustling city on the U.S.-Mexico border. Spanish and English have met Hindi, Sindhi, Gujarati and other tongues from the subcontinent.

On the back wall of Ramesh Tewani’s Madre India No. 2 store on Zaragoza Street is a prominent figure of Ganesh, the Hindu god of good luck. Tewani came to the United States from India and settled in Laredo in 1977, about the same time other Indians were converging here.

“What brought me to the U.S.? Business,” said Tewani, who sells gold and Italian jewelry. “The Mexicans come and they buy gold from me in large quantities.”

His 20-year-old son, Mohan Tewani, runs the Madre India No. 1, which offers high-fashion costume jewelry, just a few blocks down the street.

More than 90% of their customers are Mexicans who survey the retail selections before making their own large wholesale purchases, say the Tewanis and other Indian merchants on Juarez and Zaragoza streets. They say they found success in Laredo and spread the word to other Indians.

Many of the Mexican customers smuggle the goods back into Mexico to avoid tariffs and trade restrictions, the Indian merchants say.

Mayor Aldo Tatangelo, a retailer, remembers a wave of Indians “just coming and coming and coming” in the early 1980s to set up the gold trade.

“I call it Gold City because there’s so much gold in there. The Indians are good in jewelry. It’s very important to them, and they’ve got good connections with the factories in Italy.”

Tatangelo estimated that jewelry stores, now dominated by Indians, sell as much as $500 million in gold each year to Mexicans who come to shop in Laredo. Others have moved into cheaper jewelry, electronics, clothing and other lines.

More than a few Indians live in the fashionable Del Mar “C” and Regency Park neighborhoods on the city’s north side.

Although the Indian immigrants have adapted to the U.S. and Mexican cultures, they also try to preserve their heritage.

The India Assn. of Laredo’s 33 families meet regularly for a dose of culture. In August they met at Ramesh Tewani’s house for a katha , or thanksgiving prayer session. Afterwards, they raised the Indian flag to celebrate India’s independence day. A letter to members, written in English, concluded with the message: “Viva. Indian Independence.”

Association President Kishin Rupani, owner of Dayasons Costume Jewelry & Gifts, said the group helps maintain a close community. Indian entertainers touring the United States sometimes are hired to perform at members’ homes, which serve as meeting places for the group.

As with most immigrants, however, identification with the new country grows stronger with time, particularly for the young.

Mohan Tewani has a shrine in the back of his store, but is unsure of the names of the Hindu gods represented. “My father would be the expert on that,” he said.

Command of the various native languages also is fading.

“Ultimately, they have to blend in with the society,” said Rupani’s daughter, Soma, a banking and finance major at Laredo Junior College.

“We are Americanized in a way, but we’re more conservative with dating and things like that,” said Soma Rupani, 21. “You’ve heard of the arranged marriages? You have to stay within your community.”

Some parents still arrange their children’s marriages, she said, but even that institution has been liberalized by time in a new country.

Twenty-six years ago, Rupani didn’t meet Soma’s mother until after they were engaged.

Today, “I will know the guy, but the one they approve of is the one I will marry,” said Soma Rupani. “That’s how we have changed a little.”

Andy Lakhiani moved to Laredo four years ago after nearly being killed by an armed robber in his former shop in Dallas. Nearly every square inch of his small store, Casa Hari on Juarez Street, is packed with plastic necklaces, earrings, scarfs, gold-filled jewelry, perfumes, sunglasses, clocks, purses and other merchandise.

Lakhiani, originally from Bombay, said his three children don’t recognize Indian culture, but he doesn’t care. “It’s good to be aware of roots, but you have to adapt, you have to blend in,” he said as a radio behind the counter played music from a station in Mexico.