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Kochi woman on cloud nine

S. Priyadershini

Nina Nayar

KOCHI: Nina Nayar of Kochi is celebrating Obama’s historic win as America’s next President. Excited that the son of her close friend, mentor, colleague, Ann Soetoro has been victorious, she says the people have made the right choice.

The late Ann Soetoro had worked with Nina at Women’s World Banking in New York. “Barack used to call his mother at the office regularly and have long, intellectual conversations about poverty and development. He is connected to those issues and will definitely address them after stabilising the crisis at home,” she says.

A freelancer in micro financing and development, Nina currently shuttles between Kochi and the U.S. She was the Asia Regional Coordinator for Women’s World Banking from 1991-97, when Ann joined her. Their friendship grew beyond office. “Ann was an anthropologist and got her Ph.D late in life. Her dissertation, ‘Peasant Blacksmithing in Java’ was a very comprehensive work on art, craft and lives of Indonesian craftspeople and their traditions.”

Born of white American parents in Kansas, and raised mostly in Hawaii, Ann married Barack Obama Sr who was from Kenya. They had Barack at the age of 18. After her divorce she married Lolo Soetoro, who was a royal from Central Java. They had a daughter, Maya. Barack and Maya were raised in a traditional royal environment in Jog-jakarta.

According to Nina, Ann Soetoro decided to return to the U.S. and joined the team at Women’s World Banking in 1993. Recalling their friendship, she says: “We had a complex relationship and felt the connection at first sight. We were inseparable and I would like to believe that we had a lot to learn and give one another. However, Ann was so far ahead in terms of wisdom, experience and intellect — she was so precise, and her integrity is unmatched.” In an interview to the New York Times reporter Janny Scott, Nina had declared: “I feel she taught me how to live.”

Nina thinks Barack has a lot of Ann in him. She can see her in his big smile. “He has inherited her sense of balance, judgement, and respect for truth. Ann told me that Barack’s father had strong political ambitions, and although she had a good idea that Barack would have a career in politics, I doubt that she suspected that he would have come so far.” Nina has met Obama only twice, once during the launch of a book in Manhattan and the next time at Ann’s funeral in Hawaii. “I keep in touch with Maya by email and visit the family in Honolulu.” She regrets not having been able to bring Ann to India, particularly Kerala. But she is reassured that her son will come here sooner or later as the President of the world’s largest democracy.

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Corrections and Clarifications

The last sentence in a report "Kochi woman on cloud nine" ("Newscape" page, November 6, 2008) was: "But she is reassured that her son will come here sooner or later as the President of the world's largest democracy." It should have been either "world's oldest democracy" or ". as the President, to the world's largest democracy".

A sentence in a report "Kochi woman on cloud nine" ("Newscape" page, November 6, 2008) was "They had Barack at the age of 18", leading to queries on who had Barack at 18. It was Ann [Soetoro] who was 18 when she had Barack [Obama].

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