Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Amar and Raj Jindal who emigrated to USA from Punjab, India 6 months before he was born.....Piyush "Bobby" Jindal was America's FIRST Governor of Indian (i.e. from the country of India) ancestry and one of our youngest governors. We have a second Governor (of South Carolina) of Indian (i.e. from the country of India) heritage named Nikki Haley whose parents hailed from Amritsar, India. But I want to talk about "Bobby" (as he is known) Jindal in this blog.
He has handled some major disasters (such as the Gulf oil Spill) and hurricane-related flooding (he was Governor POST-"Katrina") extremely smoothly and many admire his ability to pull the people of that state together in tough times.
He graduated from Brown University (one of the better Universities in USA) with honours at age 20!!!!....and although accepted by both Harvard and Yale - he opted for Oxford for his post-graduate work. His wife, Supriya "Jolly", is no slouch academically either - she's currently working on her Ph.D. in marketing from LSU (and the mother of 3 children). Their first child was born with congenital heart disease and required surgery - both Bobby & Jolly are outspoken advocates for children born with congenital diseases.
Bobby was also a member of the U.S. House of Congress as a Representative. He has never declared any desire to run for President of USA - but he would probably make a WONDERFUL President. I only wish he were a Democrat instead of a Republican. We do vote for the person, not the party. We liked Obama - we still do, and voted for him. He was left with a failing economy and 2 wars - all thanks to Bush!
Anyway - back to Bobby. Unlike so many other Governors (we've had some real "winners" lately - the ex-Governor of South Carolina told his staff he was "walking along the Appalachian Trail" - meanwhile, he was in Buenos Aires with his mistress; New York's ex-Governor Elliot Spitzer was caught in a prostitution ring).......UNLIKE those (and others) - I haven't heard anything negative about Bobby, and have heard that he is an extremely devoted family man. In fact, when their most recent child was due....he couldn't get his wife to hospital in time, so he delivered (with coaching over the phone from doctors) their child at home.
I really like him and his family. BUT - I have to tell you that it is such a "refreshing" treat to hear him speak. People from Louisiana have a very distinct accent.....VERY "Southern" as in "ya'll" (for you all), and "ya'll come back now, hear?" - very distinct accent and to see his appearance, it just seems incongruous. Let me put it in the words of a very famous Jewish comedian Steve Guttenberg from New York who went to meet his Jewish cousins in Texas (another state with a distinct accent).....he said he was taken aback as he was introduced to cousin upon cousin in Texas - who said "Howdy! Ya'll comin' back for the Hadasah, right? We gonna barbeeeee-que us up some RIBS and stuff!" Meanwhile - to hear Bobby Jindal speak with his Louisiana accent is very, very refreshing and different for us, but we love him (I haven't met a person yet who dislikes him).
I feel good that America is READY to put aside many prejudices. Electing an African-American President was a FIRST in a country where the greater population is Anglo. I'm very proud he is our President. And I feel good that America is READY for not one but TWO Governors whose ancestors came from India. We have a long way to go, but it's a start.
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