I was going through a supermarket checkout in Alabama when the cheerful cashier, a young Black woman, and I got into a conversation. Noticing that her name tag said CHANDRA, I asked her if she knew what it meant. She didn’t. When I told her it meant “moon”, her face lit up with joy. “I can’t wait to get home to tell my parents”, she said.
Years later, when I heard of Kamala Harris the Senator, I wondered at her first
name, knowing she was Black. Did her parents name her Kamala because they liked
how it sounded? Was this another case of “Chandra”? But I came to know that
Senator Harris’ mother was an Indian from Madras, and that explained Kamala.
But I did wonder why Harris did not talk about her Indian
origins. Obviously, the Black aspect more attractive to voters than the Indian
heritage. But, now that she is the Democratic Parties’ nominee for the Vice
Presidency, her Indian heritage has received wider publicity and is certainly
an asset.
Indian Americans are a formidable ethnic group in the
USA. More than four million in number, they have the highest median household
income, US$119,858, in the country. (For Whites, it’s $65,902.) Indian CEOs
lead formidable companies: Shantanu Narayen, Adobe; Sundar Pichai, Alphabet, the parent company
of Google; Satya Narayana Nadella, Microsoft; Rajeev Suri, Nokia; Punit Renjen,
Deloitte; Vasant Narasimhan, Novartis; Ajaypal Singh Banga, Mastercard; and
Ivan Manuel Menezes, Diageo, just to name a few. The entire list is longer. According
to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, 221,000 doctors of
Indian origin are in the USA.
These
Indians are, literally and metaphorically, a gold mountain. Within two days of Harris
being named the VP nominee, $23 million in donations flowed into the Democratic
Party campaign, although how much came from the Indian American community is
not known.
Shayamalan Gopalan, Harris’ mother, left Madras at the
age of 19 to study in the USA, and, after obtaining her PhD, became a cancer
researcher. Harris’ sister, Maya, a prominent lawyer (she became Dean of a law
school at 29), was Harris’ campaign manager in 2020.
My life has been entwined with Americana since my father
bought a subscription to the Reader’s
Digest when I was only 11. In those days, the USA was a beacon for the free
world. Personally, my graduate studies were in the USA, at no cost to me, and
my career took off there. I want the USA to do well. The debacles in Vietnam,
Iraq, and Afghanistan, the racial inequalities, the rabid partisanships, the
disrespect for science, and government incompetence has made the USA a far cry
from the country I first saw in 1984. Most hurtful has been its fall from
leadership among nations. So, I am glad that the Biden-Harris partnership
offers hope for a much needed change.
Sri Lanka also has a prominent link to Harris. Rohini
Lakshmi Kosoglu, of Sri Lankan origin, was Senator Harris’ Chief of Staff during
her campaign for the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination.
Interesting times ahead, indeed!
