The Journey to Dublin
Photo courtesy of the Goyal family
Chitra and Satya Goyal are thrilled their three children, now adults, have chosen to raise their ownfamilies close by.
Though I am a stranger knocking on the door of Chitra and Satya Goyal, I immediately feel like I’m being welcomed home. I walk through the front door and am ushered into the living room, where everything is impeccably clean and comfortable. A plate of cookies sits on the coffee table. The couple begins to ask: Would I like a cookie? Coffee? Tea? Water? I decline, not wanting to start the conversation with food in my mouth.
The Goyals were married in India in 1965, and two years later on Satya’s brother’s recommendation, moved to the U.S. to pursue higher education. Satya received his degree in electrical engineering from New Mexico State University, and the Goyals moved to Texas, then Cleveland. Then, for Satya’s job with American Electric Power, the Goyals were faced with yet another move, this time to central Ohio. With three school-aged children, the No. 1 priority for Chitra and Satya was quality of schools. They were being pulled three ways between Upper Arlington, Worthington and Dublin.
More than 30 years later, I find myself sitting in the Goyals’ Dublin home. It seems they made the right choice.
“The people are friendly and we are in the right location,” says Chitra. “Whatever we need, everything is here.”
Accidental Tradition
The Goyals tell me something that has been echoed by past Storytellers: Dublin made it easy to get involved in volunteer work. Though they have more time now that they’re retired, Satya from the Ohio Department of Travel and Chitra from Huntington National Bank, volunteering is anything but new to the couple.
“It’s time for us to give back,” says Satya. “We enjoy it – we know so many people now. Any place you work, everybody kind of works together as a friendly team, having a great time with everyone else.”
The couple is involved with the Greater Columbus Tourism Ambassador Program and the Memorial Tournament, and Satya is a community service officer with the Dublin Police Department and serves on the Board of Zoning Appeals with the city. However, one volunteer experience seems to rise above the rest: the Dublin Irish Festival.
Photo courtesy of the Goyal family
Chitra and Satya surrounded by their eightgrandchildren.
The Irish Festival celebrates its 31st anniversary this summer, and the Goyals have been festival volunteers just as long. They haven’t missed a year, and don’t plan to. In fact, they make sure their schedule is free for the first weekend of August each year.
“We started with the first year, up until now. We make sure we are here,” says Chitra, laughing.
The couple recalls the first year of the Irish Festival, when it was contained to a small area near the Fletcher Coffman Homestead, entry was two dollars and residents saw it as a quaint get-together.
“People gave me an apron and said, ‘Collect two bucks as people come in.’ That’s it,” says Satya. “I didn’t know what I was doing. People asked if I was Irish, and I said, ‘Well, I live here.’”
However, it’s now clear that, like the Goyals, the Irish Festival is here to stay.
“I thought, ‘Oh, this is a one-time deal,’” says Chitra. “Now, people are coming from Ireland to here? This is a big deal.”
The Same, Only Different
However, Chitra and Satya say that much of what they moved here for has remained. It helps that their three children have stayed in the area. Their oldest, Sapna Seth, lives in Powell; middle, Renita Shah, lives in New Albany; and youngest, Navin Goyal, remains in Dublin. Each has a family of their own, and the Goyals are proud to have eight grandchildren. Chitra and Satya don’t even entertain the idea of moving out of Dublin, let alone leaving the house they bought upon relocating. They love it too much – and are too rooted here – to leave.
It’s time for us to give back. ... We enjoy it – we know so many people now. Any place you work, everybody kind of works together as a friendly team, having a great time with everyone else.
“We have get-togethers with our friends and meet our grandkids. They come over and have sleepovers,” says Chitra. “We enjoy outings. In the summertime, we do picnics, we go to the (Dublin Community Recreation Center) and exercise, we like to have friends over.”
“It’s a very, very modern city, and I think we’re just enjoying living here. I hope to continue,” says Satya, laughing. “Any time (Dublin organizations) send out an email saying they need volunteers, they’re already filled up, or people are waiting in line.”
With my questions exhausted, I thank the Goyals for their time and prepare to leave. Before I can turn my recorder off, it picks up one last question from Chitra:
“So now you can have a cookie?”
Amanda DePerro is an editor. Feedback welcome at adeperro@cityscenemediagroup.com.
