Trump visit: ‘Kem Chho’ echoes louder across America

AHMEDABAD: With the jam-packed SP Stadium greeting US president Trump on Monday, it will be ruled by the ‘Kem Cho’ spirit of the state, even as the event has got official name of ‘Namaste Trump.’ But Trump’s America is no stranger to the greeting - in 2017, a total of 4.34 lakh Americans told the Census officials that they speak Gujarati as second language at home.

The number of Gujarati users increased by 84% from 2.35 lakh in 2000 to 4.34 lakh in 2017. As the US Census will take place in 2020, Gujarati is also included as one of the 59 languages — including eight Indian languages — in which forms would be available. Several states of the US, notably New Jersey, New York and Illinois, have sizeable Gujarati populations.
International Mother Language Day on February 21 is being celebrated on the theme ‘Languages without Borders.’ Significantly, in the past two decades, Gujarati learning and writing has seen a surge thanks to technology and NGOs, experts say.
Preety Sengupta, a New York-based author of 48 books, made history when she was conferred Kumar Chandrak and Narmad Chandrak for her writings. Known for her lyrical travelogues, Sengupta, who was brought up in Ahmedabad, hates ‘diaspora writing’ tag. “It was a shock of settling into America for first few years. The pen then again started flowing — I am sure a lot of writers from my generation went through that process and tried to capture those emotions in their writings,” she said.
Today, 50-odd major and minor Gujarati periodicals thrive in various parts of the US, primarily propelled by the Gujarati Samaj and social organizations.