The fiercely competitive light decorating contest inspired by Clark Griswold from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a People’s Choice contest where event attendees pick the winners.
By Jang Jaswal, as told to Danny Bonvissuto
I grew up in India and migrated to the United States in the mid-’80s.
It was stressful to settle down into the American lifestyle, because I couldn’t find a job in my field. Before I moved to America, I was the head of the science department at Narayan Indian College in the Fiji Islands. In those days, we didn’t have the internet: You read the newspaper, applied for jobs, and waited for someone to answer. So I drove a truck until I found a position in quality control for pharmaceuticals.