Growing up as an Indian-American
in Wyoming is quite different
from growing up in an ethnically
diverse city like Atlanta, as author
Nina McConigley shows in her award-winning
collection of stories, Cowboys
and Indians.
“I always say the book is about
being the wrong kind of Indian in
Wyoming,” she quipped, speaking
recently to BBC News.
The hardest part about living in the rural Western
state, she says, is “to walk out of the door every single
day and to never see a reflection of yourself.”
McConigley, whose book won the PEN Open Book
Award in 2014, was born in Singapore to an Irish
father and Indian mother. Her father was a petroleum
geologist whose company transferred him to Wyoming.
Her mother was a journalist who would later become a
state legislator in Wyoming.
The author did not visit India until she was 23. She
remembers her first morning there, walking out onto
the street from her aunt’s house.
“I realized it was the first time in my life I wasn’t
in the minority,” she said. “But yet, to look around that
street, I couldn’t have felt more distant from every
brown person around me.”
She realized then how much of her identity was
tied to Wyoming and its traditions, landscape, and real
and mythical wildlife.
“I love jackalopes, I love antlers, I have a tattoo
of a covered wagon and a jackalope,” she said. “I love
that stuff.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips and more.]