Random Stuff and Bobby Jindal
Oct 22 2007

What a day!  It started out with a potty training disaster and an overflowing toilet and ended (well not quite ended yet) with me playing Power Rangers with my son before putting him to bed.  In between, there was a plumber, a photographer, many business related calls/emails/documents, a trip to Jiffy Lube for an overdue oil change, a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond for an overpriced plunger, telling my 5 year old son repeatedly that he cannot play on a football team right now, dinner, and a few scenes of the Jungle Book.  Phew!

In the middle of my interesting day, history was made and that was the election of Piyush “Bobby” Jindal as the governor of Louisiana.  Now normally someone being elected as the governor of any state is news but NOT history making news.  Bobby is the first Indian American to be elected Governor of a US state.  Why is this interesting to me?  Well because I am South Asian.  I remember when I was a teenager in West Texas I would joke with my friends about the fact that since I was born in another country, I could never be the president of the United States.  Back then, the fact that I was a woman didn’t enter into my analysis of whether or not I could be President some day.  The only loophole we found was that I could become the Speaker of the House and if something (God forbid) happened to the President and Vice President, I could for a few seconds actually be President until they realized I was a naturalized US citizen and not a native born one.

As I’m sure you can tell, I did not end up pursuing a political career (thank goodness!).  I am pretty sure that the political world would have driven me nuts!  

If you’d like to read about what other South Asians are saying about Bobby winning the election, look no further than Sepia Mutiny.  Sepia Mutiny is an irreverent blog for South Asians about South Asian stuff.  I happened upon it a few months ago and have been fascinated by the dialogue that goes on there.  The October 21, 2007 post on Bobby Jindal by Anna already has close to 500 comments!  Many of their posts draw hundreds of comments.

Personally, I do not have the same political leanings as Bobby.  He is a very strict conservative, and I am moderate in my political philosophy.  However, I have to say a hearty ‘congrats’ to him for making history.  Plus if he accomplishes what he says he wants to which is to get rid of corruption in Louisiana politics and bring in more aid for Katrina victims then more power to him! He along with people like Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, and all the high-tech entrepreneurs of South Asian descent have made it a bit easier for the rest of us brown immigrants to contribute to the glorious US of A. 🙂

OK, now I’m going to go watch Heroes before ending my interesting day.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring…

Author: | Filed under: diversity, random stuff | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Random Stuff and Bobby Jindal