When Punjabi kudi Nimrata Kaur Randhawa, born in Bamberg, South Carolina to Sikh immigrants and raised in the Sikh tradition, married Bill Michael Haley, she converted to her husband's religion and became Nimrata Randhawa-Haley. And in 2004 when she changed her career (from running her mother's fashion business) to politics, she became Nikki Haley. Because (she commented to press reporters) the name Nimrata Randhawa-Haley wouldn't "fit on a yard sign" -- IMO a phrase which, other than meaning what it says, is also a euphemism for acknowledging that her original name is not American enough to win an election.
I chanced upon this factoid (and many others) as I browsed through the search results for "Nikki Haley" the other day, when news broke about her winning the South Carolina gubernatorial elections to become the first woman Governor of her state and the second Governor of Indian origin in the history of the United States. The first, of course, was Punjabi munda Piyush Amrit Jindal who, inspired by a character from The Brady Bunch, changed his name to Bobby when he was a kid, converted to Christianity and was elected Governor of Louisiana a couple of years ago. And may someday even become President.
Indians rejoiced then, when Bobby Jindal won, as they did now when Nikki Haley won. And as they always do when someone from their gene pool makes it big, anywhere in the world, in any sphere of human endeavour, regardless of how far away from their roots those individuals have moved, or how far removed from Indian society those individuals were to begin with. What part India played in Haley's or Jindal's success story is anybody's guess, but for a lot of Indians, these are the sons and daughters who make India proud.
Several comparisons have been made between this particular son and this particular daughter of India -- both are in their late 30s, both are Republicans, both converted to Christianity before actively entering politics, both are second generation Americans whose parents migrated from Punjab, India ... and finally, both dropped the names they were born with and took names that "fit on yard signs". In many ways, this distancing of oneself from one's original name and religion marks the long journey from Ludhiana to Louisiana, in a manner of speaking. And some commentators have been quite openly sceptical about the motives behind these changes .
As I continued my research that day, what jumped out at me was the need to change one's cultural identity in order to be successful, and it had me wondering about many related things.
Like, if Nikki Haley's birth name was Ela Rai and her husband's family name was Krzywoszyja, then which name would she have picked to "fit on a yard sign"? My money says she would've entered politics as "Ella Ray" and thought up a clever explanation to it.
Like, why does Nikki Haley need a concealed weapons permit? The article in Washington Post lists 10 factoids about Nikki Haley and has a paragraph outlining the story behind each of them, except for this one about her concealed weapons permit. I find that quite intriguing, since it conceals more than it reveals.
Like, how come Barack Husain Obama did not change his name (to, say, Barry O'Bama) to make it "fit on a yard sign"?
Like, why did Barack Obama have to clarify that he was a Christian and not a Muslim? Why did Nikki Haley have to clarify that she was a Christian and no longer a practising Sikh? Here's a line from a Newsweek article about her:
"Haley’s religious background surfaced as an issue during the primary, forcing her to clarify that she’s raising her two kids Methodist, that the family regularly attends a Methodist church, and that she only occasionally visits a Sikh temple, when invited by her parents."
"Surfaced as an issue .... forcing her to clarify" -- sounds like a lot of pressure. "Only occasionally ... when invited by her parents" -- sounds like an apology, if not a plea for clemency. Such a pity!
Why is it that in America -- the greatest of democracies, land of the free, home of the brave, a nation built by immigrants from all parts of the world, a nation that promises equal opportunity to all and prides itself on embracing ethnic and cultural diversity -- why is it that in such a nation it is necessary to be a Christian before aspiring to become Governor or President? Or to have a name that "fits on a yard sign"?
*
As an aside, I also wondered how come Christine O'Donnell didn't see the need to change her name to fit on a yard sign, and how come she didn't have to clarify that she is a Christian. But then I quickly reminded myself of the TV ad campaign that ran through most of last month. In her case, there was another doubt that need clarification: that she was not a witch.
