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THE HISTORY OF Indian immigrants in the U.S. could fill several books, but Mahendra Doshi has captured a core aspect of it with his book "Surat to San Francisco: How the Patels from Gujarat Established the Hotel Business in California 1942-1960." The book is, as the title says, the story of the individuals who first left their home for a roundabout journey to the American Dream. Doshi is journalist in San Jose, California, not a businessman himself, but he is originally from Vadia in the Indian state of Gujarat. His family moved to Calcutta in West Bengal where Doshi earned degrees from Presidency College and the University of Calcutta before moving to the U.S. in 1967 and eventual graduated with a master's degree from the University of Nevada, Reno. "I have never even thought of business. I had a degree in journalism and I did marketing work for General Motors. That's where I made my living for 30 years," Doshi said. "At the same time, I pursued my journalistic impulses. I wrote for mostly all those ethnic papers, Indian ethnic papers like India Times of Chicago and India West and India Post." Doshi also published two "Who's Who among Indians" lists in 1976 and 1981. That whet his appetite for exploring his people's history.

CALIFORNIA-BASED HOTELIER Sunil "Sunny" Tolani has been named a top entrepreneur by Yahoo Finance. Tolani's the Prince Organization was named one of the fastest growing private companies in Orange County, California, by the Orange County Business Journal. In the Yahoo listing, Tolani is recognized not only for his work operating multiple hotels but also charity work, youth empowerment and education. It also mentions the organization's receipt of several honors and awards, including the 2016 Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence and, more recently, the Nelson Mandela Leadership Award from the Non Resident Indian Welfare Society. "Sunil Tolani is a self-made man, highly respected and publicly admired worldwide Indian American CEO, social entrepreneur, philanthropist and humanitarian," the Yahoo article said. "[The Prince Organization is] regularly commended by various third-party organizations as one of the best and top places to work. Prince has also been named the fastest growing private companies and top minority-owned organization three times in a row."