Putting aside his politics for a moment, I think most of us are capable of agreeing that Congressman Bobby Jindal has accomplished several things which would make any brown parent gloat; a quondam Rhodes Scholar, he was appointed Secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health before serving as President of the University of Louisiana. Later, he was an Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Just one of those titles would make my family faint with joy, but I happen to think his latest accomplishment is the coolest of them all (via CNN):
Rep. Bobby Jindal barely had time to call 911 when his wife woke with labor pains Tuesday. Minutes later, he helped deliver his own son.
Slade Ryan Jindal arrived before the ambulance did at about 3:25 a.m. Jindal, coached over the phone by a nurse at the doctor’s office, put the baby in the arms of his wife, Supriya, and tied off the umbilical cord with a shoestring.
Dr. Bobby Jindal? It almost happened– according to his official bio, he “turned down admissions to medical and law schools at both Harvard and Yale.” On a more serious note, it’s probable that this unexpected turn in Supriya Jindal’s pregnancy was extra-worrisome, beyond the obvious not-in-a-hospital angle.
The Jindals already had two children, Selia who is four and Shaan, who is two. Shaan was born with two holes in his heart, requiring open heart surgery soon after his birth. Due to her son’s medical issues, the Congressman’s wife was being watched closely in the days before her delivery.
Supriya Jindal had been to the hospital twice in the last week with pains thought to be contractions, her husband said. She was at the doctor’s office as recently as Monday and was told there were no signs the baby would be coming as soon as it did, he said.
Mother and baby were resting comfortably Tuesday at a nearby hospital.
“We were very fortunate. There were no complications,” said Bobby Jindal, 35.
Two days early and weighing a healthy eight pounds, Slade Jindal entered the world on a very special day. His older siblings were typically oblivious (when my little sister was born, I looked at her for four seconds before requesting Baskin Robbins):
Slade’s 4-year-old sister, Selia, and 2-year-old brother, Shaan, were at the house and slept through the birth, Jindal spokesman Trey Williams said.
Williams said Jindal had dreamed of becoming a doctor: “He kind of got to play that role today.”
I’ll admit it– I’m more affected by this story than I would have predicted; I think it’s because my best friend had a less-than-easy pregnancy which ended in an emergency C-section, and my new nephew just spent his first weeks in the hospital, so these days I’m extra thankful and happy for others who are in similar situations. Congratulations, Congressman. And props for picking something as interesting as Slade (while remaining firmly ensconced in alliterative desi naming conventions).
Actually “slade” is supposedly Old English in origin. Is a rare male first name but a very popular surname according to this page. Apple is not listed… 😉
I apologize if I seemed overly harsh… I was just kidding around with the whole “in her dna” bit.
But my point about Jindal being treated differently because he’s a minority Republican rather than a Democrat, for something rather trivial, still stands.
vikram: i’m not offended… actually chuckling..and am not taking it personally…what is pissing me off, and offending me is senator allen and his stupid macaca comments.. i’ve not been this ‘piping’ mad for a long time…
pied piper: thanks.
to all others: we should be aware and take action in our own ways, if possible, against senator allen.. he is simply repulsive…
the steaming bean.
Senator Allen is a dimwit who will pay the price for his actions. His “Mel Gibson” moment without even being drunk.
hmmmm, vikram — maybe you’re thinking about baby names more than me. 😉 i have no hard empirical data about frequency and claim no expertise. but as you mention, it is an uncommon first name. if frequency as a surname is what we’re talking about, that’s a different conversation — after all, there is a fiona apple and r.w. “johnny” apple. i would have assumed that apple is fairly common as a surname….
anyway, I myself don’t for a second think that AK, Siddhartha, Pagla, DesiDancer, Tamasha, Chick Pea, DJ Drrrty Punjabi, and others above are playing around with the name “Slade” because Jindal is a conservative. It’s an unusual name for a desi celebrity kid, and that invites babyrazzi commentary. And most of those comments are fairly good-natured and completely aesthetic, at most — not deep disdain for picking an unconventional first name for a desi kid.
of course, what’s much more important for jindal to worry about than what people here think of his kids’ names? making sure they don’t grow up to be like paris hilton or vikram chatwal. those celebrity kids — always gotta watch out….
Mr. Lam… Mr. Spoor Lam… please pick up the saffron courtesy phone…
I’m not a Jindal fan. No apologies on that account. I count his presence in the American polical arean as part of the 3% -14% quondam* failure rate. Worse yet, he’s spawning so rapidly! Ergh.
But I saw the link to Jindal’s bio and just couldn’t resist reading it. All them purty accomplishments and yet macaca feels the need to list his college GPA on his congressional biography?! And so unironically given that it’s from a school (Brownians – correct me if I’m wrong) known for distancing itself from the GPA system?!?
That plus the gratuitous mention of his having turned down medical and law schools at Harvard and Yale is both irksome and sad in a particularly desi way. Were it in a long format article about the Congressman, I would have found it interesting, compelling, noteworthy and laudable. But I couldn’t help but think of the auntie and uncle types who feels the need to make some mention of their net worth / caste status / tax bracket / children’s SAT scores / illustrious relatives back home at various desi gathering. They’re so numerous that we must each know a few. Sad sad sad!
To a certain extent this is a tendency that I understand and even forgive among a certain generation of desis. But it’s one that I hope will die a quiet death among generations 1.5 and 2.
*Anna, you threw me with “quondam”. Is “erstwhile” behaving badly as of late? 😉
Sowwy. I meant “American political arena”
This kid seems to already be the prodegy his father was! already blogging!
sladeisking.com
crazy site- he knows photoshop, and has impeccable language skills! so proud to be an Indian when I see my NRI people exceling!