Air India hired him and paid his way to the U.S. and on the plane he met the art director Tony Paladino, from whom Gatha picked up further work. He lived in New York for two years, working advertising agencies and fashion houses and covered the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. He also worked for the United Nations, and for C.A.R.E. he was sent to produce a feature story on their school feeding program in South India.