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Pride and Joy in India Over La.'s Bobby Jindal
At left, villagers and relatives gather in Khanpur, the ancestral home of Louisiana Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal (R), above.
(By Rama Lakshmi -- The Washington Post)
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Still, there's an insatiable appetite for heroes and role models in India, where two-thirds of the population is under 35. Any achiever whose name sounds remotely Indian is eagerly appropriated as an opportunity to bask in reflected glory.
Williams, the NASA astronaut, is the daughter of an Indian father and a Slovenian mother and was born and raised in the United States. Even though Williams was not the first Indian American NASA astronaut to join a space mission -- that title was claimed by Kalpana Chawla in 1997 -- she was mobbed by fans when she visited India last month. She met the prime minister and president, attended political events and visited schools, TV studios and the home of Mohandas Gandhi.
Thousands of Indians had prayed, lit candles and fasted to ensure Williams's safe return to Earth after her mission last year.
"The story of an Indian playing the American dream and succeeding allows us to dream as well," said Shiv Visvanathan, a social scientist with the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology. "It is a statement of possibility, even if they have a tenuous link to India. Indians feel that it could have been me. In fact, it is me."
Visvanathan said Williams looked like a bewildered tourist during her carnival-like visit to India and reacted naively to the public adoration. "The dialogue never went beyond the predictable cliches because she was a mere symbol," he said.
Critics allege that Indians are interested in claiming only rich and successful compatriots who live in the West, even those who hardly ever invest in their homeland. Rarely celebrated, for example, are the quiet contributions of thousands of Indian workers abroad, mostly in the Persian Gulf, who sent almost $23 billion back to India in 2004, compared with a mere $3.5 billion in foreign investment.
"The overseas Indian is our brand ambassador. Every success story abroad creates curiosity about India, and in a globalized world, the benefits are always mutual," said Ajay Khanna, chief executive of India Brand Equity Foundation, a marketing group.
Back in Khanpur, Jindal's relatives tried to call him with congratulations but got an answering machine instead. Even though they haven't heard from him, extended family members bicker over who is closest to Jindal's father and who has received more letters from him. At a Sikh shrine, some villagers held a three-day prayer ceremony for the Republican governor-elect, who is now a Roman Catholic.
"My children ask, 'Why does Uncle Bobby never visit us?' " said Asha Jindal, who has never spoken to Bobby Jindal although she is married to his cousin. "He is a famous American now, but this is his real home."
