Arts

KMUW is partnering with the Ulrich Museum of Art for "Co-Lab: Getting Personal," a community lending art show. The community was asked to contribute a cherished object from their collection. Here are stories from members of our community and the items they lent for the project. Tune in to 89.1 FM to hear these segments airing on October 28 and 29, as well as November 4, 11, 18, 25 and 26 at 5:19 and 7:19 a.m., 3:18 and 5:18 p.m.

From the old world to the new

KMUW | By Torin Andersen

Published November 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM CST

KMUW is partnering with the Ulrich Museum of Art for CoLab: Getting Personal, a community lending art show. The community is asked to provide a cherished object from their collection. Here's the story of a prayer book that has traveled many miles.

My name is Saroj Arab, and I donated a prayer book that I brought with me from India in 1967.

Coming to America was a very new experience. I never expected to be here. I was married to my husband ... not a forced marriage, [but an] arranged marriage. So I didn't know anything about him. I didn't know anything about America that much.

Coming to a new world, I used to use a prayer from my mom's prayer book. And one day I told my family, “I [can’t] find that book anymore, to take it to a new country.” So my grandfather heard that, and one day, he bought that book for me.

And in there, he wrote to Roja, [which] is the short form of Saroj, it says, “To Roja from Granddad.” And he put the date 1967, and I still have that. That's what I thought connected me from the old world to the new world.

But it took me seven years to go back to India. I had two kids here, and I did bring a new book, but I think for some reason I didn't want to discard that one because of my grandfather's writing is in there, and it's tattered, and it's kind of old and has stains of oil and stuff. But it's very dear to me, and I want to pass it on to my grandkids.