"The day is not far away," says Sambhu Banik, who was appointed by the White House as the Executive Director of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation nearly two decades ago, one of the rare things for the community those days.
One day, 38-year-old Republican Bobby Jindal may become the first Indian-American President of the US, Banik writes in his memoir titled 'Born Ordinary, Lived Extraordinary', which will be released tomorrow.
"He has a very bright future and we Indian Americans should be proud of him in spite of his personal decision to change his religion. He can be a role model for young Indian Americans to participate and seek political offices," the 74-year-old says, as he goes on to list the number of emerging Indian Americans in the field of politics.
Two decades ago, he might have been one of the rarest Indian-American to serve in a presidential administration, but that is not the case now.
President Barack Obama has appointed more than a dozen Indian-Americans to key administrative posts and there are a large number of Indian-Americans fast coming up the political ladder – both in the Republican and the Democratic parties.