'INDIAN!' Stretching it a wee bit now, no?

Like the desi dad in the British comedy sketch show, 'Goodness Gracious Me', we may be getting a tad too exuberant in finding an 'India connection' in everything, everywhere. GGM's Indian father, for instance, tells his son how Mona Lisa is 'Mina Losa, a Gujarati washerwoman from Bhavnagar' who lived close to where Leonardo da Vinci lived - no, not Florence but Faridabad.

In the real desi world, it seems that we can't be proud enough of our Pichais, Nadellas, Sunaks and Kamala H's. Now, we'll have to break into a bhangra if the partner or spouse of anyone in the news is, to quote the dad from GGM inflectionally, 'INDIAN!'

Our latest cause celebre is Mrs Vance, wife of US senator J D Vance who was named by Donald 'Shot At' Trump on Monday as his vice-presidential running mate. Mrs Vance is San-Diego born Usha Chilukari Vance, daughter of Telugu immigrants.


Cue the diyas, laddoos and relentless WhatsApp forwards. But are we really that desperate for validation that we're celebrating the spouse of a veep hopeful? It's akin to Germans cheering for that blonde backup dancer from Munich third to the left of Deepika in that item number scene. Don't get us wrong. The Mrs Vance connection should make us smile.

Sure. Absolutely. But to make her the latest entry in a litany of genetic world domination, that's reaching, even by GGM dad standards.