South Asians

Priya Sachdeva drove to Fremont in Northern California recently to swab the inside of her cheek with a Q-tip to try to help someone she didn't know. Sachdeva, a UC Irvine student of South Asian descent, responded to the call to help a stranger as part of what the National Marrow Donor Program has called a "supercharged" donor campaign: a massive online effort on behalf of Vinay Chakravarthy, a 28-year-old Fremont native suffering from leukemia.

On the edge of suburbia here, where farmland awaits the developer's plow, the magnificent gardens of Southeast Asian refugees rise and fall. On leased ground no bigger than 5 or 10 acres -- small potatoes to the giant industrial growers -- the refugees plant their own longshot dreams: Chinese bitter melon, Chinese broccoli, Thai chili, ong choy, su choy, daikon and kohlrabi.