Bobby Jindal and Mistaken Pride

Note - I have wanted to write about this for a long time, but was held up by other things. Anyway, I know I am a little behind the current events, but I still wanted to write it.

Early on when we were in India we were astonished by the amount of news coverage given to the visit of US astronaut Sunita Williams to Gujarat. We did not think that there was anything particularly wrong with celebrating the achievements of Ms. Williams, but the level of attention seemed a little excessive for the visit of a half Indian American who had spent her entire life in the US. This was our introduction to this strange Indian need to celebrate people who achieved things in other parts of the world and have even the slightest ties to India. As I would later read, Norah Jones was also followed very closely when she was at the top of the US music world.

Fast forward to the election of Bobby Jindal as governor of Louisiana. As we had expected, the election of this 2nd generation Indian was a topic of news coverage, conversation and even a celebration in his ancestral town in Punjab. All this was despite the fact that most Indians had no idea who he is or what he stands for. In fact, people were extremely surprised when we would tell them that he is in the same political party as George Bush, who is not exactly a popular figure in India.

People had heard only a little at most of his story. For those unaware, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the son of parents who immigrated to Baton Rouge in the 70s. His real Indian name is very rarely heard and he has never visited the place where his family is from. He converted to Catholicism when he was 14 (although I have on good authority that this conversion was unknown at least one member of the Baton Rouge Indian community at the time, leading me to question the real timing, as such a thing as a little Indian boy going to church alone would seem to be a topic of conversation). In his later achievements and political career his background has been de-emphasized. Rumor has it he even asks his Indian supporters in Louisiana not to wear traditional Indian dress to his fund raisers, as pictures of him with people in traditional dress may appear in the media. When we were watching his acceptance speech on TV we could barley contain our laughter at his now strong southern accent, which is not a common trait among Ivy League educated 2nd generation Indian kids. In short his Indian heritage seems to be something for him to run away from, not a source of any pride.

None the less, I am not actually here to rip Bobby Jindal for doing what he had to do to advance his career. It is certainly everyone right to assimilate to the US culture as much as they want, after all I do not know any Eastern European languages or dances, I have an English name and am not Eastern Orthodox. I do find the ferocity that he has rejected Indian culture a little drastic however, if I was running for office and someone wanted to bring Perogies to a fund raiser I would not stop them.

The thing I actually find more disturbing is that Indians will waste time trying to love and admire someone who rejects his connection to them. On the day we left several writers from the Times of India were finally getting around to addressing this. I share their opinion, that India needs to reserve its energy for supporting its own heroes, not lionising people for whom blood is their only lasting connection.