Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Time to Gloat

Whenever any Indian origin person becomes famous anywhere in the world, many Indians in India will celebrate and gloat. It does not matter if that person has nothing to do with India or never even visited India. For example:

Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana State, USA.
Sunita Williams, American astronaut.

I do not want to go on and on with more names. Let me come to the point.

A young lady (age 31) has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii. Her name is Tulsi Gabbard. I have already seen a few Indian television stations described her as the first ever Indian origin woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. I could not stop laughing. In a few days, they may even describe her as being born in a poor village in Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh.

She was born in Leloaloa, American Samoa, to Mike Gabbard and Carol Gabbard. Mrs. Gabbard embraced Hinduism and gave Hindu names to her children. Tulsi is not an Indian origin American.

Dr. Ami Bera is the likely winner from the 7th Congressional District in California to the U.S. House of Representatives. All votes have been counted and they have not declared the results yet because his lead is by 184 votes only. There may be a recount.

Bera’s parents immigrated to USA from Gujrat, India, 50 years ago. He is an Indian origin American. Now I am waiting to see how many people in India are going to claim that they knew Ami’s parents. Some would even claim they are Ami’s childhood friends. Ami was born and raised in USA.

22 comments:

  1. SG,
    For US elections we had our own channels running 24x7 live commentary as if the election was in India. To add spice to the news and keep people glued to their channels they have some numbers up their sleeves.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comments Chitra. Just because someone has an Indian sounding name, Indian TV stations will brand that person as "Indian Origin" and build up an imaginary story.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was also taken in by the Hindu sounding name till I read your post

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for your comments Mr. KP. And, welcome to my blog. It is the Indian television stations that create all these hypes.

    Mr. KP, please visit here as often as possible. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lolz...Its like Indian who goes to US and keeps themselves a fancy yanky names....

    Media at times hype like anything. Do I stand a chance to contest for elections? I will def bring world peace! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for your comments Ekta. Yes, you can contest the elections. It is a free country. Forget about world peace. Let us make some money.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hmm...that's all we can do...gloat! It is our way to say that we are geniuses ...forget that we are of no use to our country...we are useful to rest of the world...we have let our gems go...so we gloat!

    This is probably not new in America...but I just saw it on FB ..."Tanishq Mathew Abraham" - he is also surely going creating some more room for gloating!

    Aparna.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't see the TV much these days, hence I am not aware of the gloating news (much). Its fine if people are looking for inspiration but that is not the case always.

    Destination Infinity

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for your comments Aparna. Tanishq is a child prodigy. But I pity that kid and his sister, who is also a child prodigy. Their parents have admitted him in a college at the age of 7. What kind of friends he will have at the college! This kid will miss enjoying the childhood. My opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for your comments Rajesh. You are right. They are not looking for inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I hate this you know - even a distant relation with India is tom-tomed about so much!

    Poor thing his great grandfather would have been here only once but the moment he is famous he automatically gets the "Indian" tag and we brag about it. There are so many unsung heroes in India who could do with all that attention and limelight:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for your comments Me. Here is a story, I am sure, you will love. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who won the Nobel Price for Chemistry in 2009, was born in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. Both his parents were scientists at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda (now Vadodara). He lived and studied from Kindergarten to bachelor’s degree in Vadodara. A so called teacher in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, claimed that he was his teacher in his 3rd grade in Chidambaram. HaHaHa.

    ReplyDelete
  13. today in the scenario of 24 hr news they need something to make news..and they will hype anything and everything..

    I totally detest this nature of taking pride in anything..once anybody takes the citizenship of another country, they are not Indians anymore,, why should we be proud of their achievements? do we have shortage of achievers in India?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ha ha ha ha...This one was too good SG !!

    You know when Slumdog Millionaire was released even Dev Patel was so much hyped because of his Indian connection while poor thing he kept on saying I went there only once when I was 3,I don't remember much in all his interviews :D

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for your comments Renu. We can be proud of anybody's achievement. But to celebrate it as if it is our own achievement is not right.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for your comments Me. There is a slight chance Bobby Jindal might become President of USA in 2016. If that happens, wait for the fireworks in India.

    At least Dev Patel visited India once when he was 3 years old. Bobby Jindal has never visited India.

    ReplyDelete
  17. :D

    Oh yes!!

    Bobby Jindal - how come I missed that!

    Fireworks and perhaps a national holiday in celebration -sounds exciting ;)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for your comments Me. Bobby Jindal? Who? Oh, you mean Piyush Jindal who changed his first name to be Americanized so he can be successful in American politics.

    I wonder why he did not change his last name to McJindal or Jindalani.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Very informative. Yes this "celebration" of individuals who have nothing to do with India has to stop. Thanks for sharing the thoughts of millions...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks for your comments Swetha. And, welcome back. You are right. This kind of "celebration" has to stop.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Indians go after them because they are U.s based.Yes, as you said they celebrated here also titling Tulsias first Hindu and the media were after U.S election for a few days.Information-giving.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for your comments Sarala. They do not go after anyone because they are U.S. based. They go after anyone with an Indian name. Mr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Nobel prize winner, is UK based.

    ReplyDelete