You say Bobby, I say 145;potato146;

Indian-Americans are debating whether to celebrate Bobby Jindal8217;s win or to turn up their noses.

Ever since Republican Bobby Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana October 20, Indian Americans across the country have been debating whether to celebrate or turn up their noses. Many feel downright giddy at the thought that for the first time, an Indian American will hold the top job in a state, in particular one where less than two decades ago white supremacist David Duke won the votes of a majority of whites during his failed bid for governor.

But plenty of Indian Americans recoil at the Jindal8217;s socially conservative views, such as the Republican8217;s support for banning abortion and teaching 8220;intelligent design8221; in schools. They are also gnawed by a sense that the Baton Rouge-born son of immigrants distanced himself from his heritage during the campaign. Noting that Jindal, 36, chose the nickname Bobby in place of his given name, Piyush, as a toddler and converted from Hinduism to Christianity in high school, some have accused him of being a 8220;potato8221;: brown on the outside, white on the inside. Whatever their views, 8220;absolutely everybody is talking about this,8221; said Amardeep Singh, an English professor at Lehigh University and a contributor to Sepia Mutiny, one of several blogs serving South Asians that held lively discussions on the topic.

8220;It8217;s a soul-searching moment because it raises all these questions about identity and the kind of public profile that Indian Americans have to cut in order to succeed in American life,8221; Singh said. Singh, 33, who was born in New York and raised in Washington8217;s Maryland suburbs, confessed to deep ambivalence. As someone who tried to fit in at college by taking the nickname Deep but who has since tried to resurrect his given first name, Singh is pained that the first Indian American to win a governorship did so using such a name as Bobby.

Since waves of Indian immigrants began arriving in the late 1960s, the 2.5 million-strong Indian American community has emerged as one of the country8217;s most educated, successful and assimilated ethnic groups. And to some extent, the conversation over Jindal has cleaved along generational lines, with those who immigrated to the US as adults strongly supporting him and those who came as children or who were born in the US feeling conflicted.

For instance, Suresh Gupta, a physician who immigrated to the Washington area in 1968, is a Democrat, yet he was one of several Indian Americans who organised fundraisers for Jindal during his unsuccessful bid in 2003. 8220;It doesn8217;t matter that Bobby is a Republican,8221; Gupta, 65, said. 8220;He is our child, and we need to support this next generation so that they can become leaders of this country and make us proud.8221;

Maitri Venkat-Ramani, 32, a scientist with a major oil company in New Orleans, has little patience for such views. 8220;My mother and I have been arguing about this on a daily basis,8221; Venkat-Ramani said with a laugh. 8220;I keep telling her, just because Jindal looks like you doesn8217;t mean he is you or that he is going to act like you. So I don8217;t understand where all this pride is coming from.8221;

Venkat-Ramani, who came to the US at age 16, said she also worries that when Indian-Americans cheer for a candidate with whom they otherwise disagree merely because he shares their ethnicity, they are reinforcing the very colour consciousness they want the rest of American society to reject. Her views were echoed by several others.