Prof. Santhamma Chilukuri, grandmother to the Second Lady of the United States, Usha Chilukuri Vance, expressed overwhelming joy as she watched her granddaughter and US Vice President JD Vance ascend to “one of the highest offices in the world.”
Santhamma, who continues to serve as an honorary professor at Centurion University in Vizianagaram, told Times of India“I view this moment as a bridge of connection and collaboration between two great nations. I hope the couple will resolve some of India’s problems and issues.”
“I congratulate JD Vance and Usha on this momentous occasion. May God bless your country (US) and mine (India). It is a proud moment for the Chilukuri family.”
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“Now, it is Usha’s turn to elevate our country’s prestige even further. Both my husband, Subramanya Sastry, and his elder brother, Rama Sastry, who is Usha’s grandfather, served as university professors. Our family deeply values societal concerns. My husband, in fact, endured two years in jail during the Emergency period. Usha must have inherited the sharp intellect and acumen that runs in our family,” the 96-year-old added.
-Indian family of Usha Vance
Originally from Vadluru in the Andhra Pradesh state, the family shifted to Chennai after Usha Vance’s paternal grandfather, Ramasastry Chilukuri, went to teach in the IIT in 1959, said the family members. The IIT now has a student award dedicated to Ramasastry also the teacher of physics before passing on. Chilukuri Buchipapayya Sastri, a renowned scholar, was an early patriarch of this lineage.
Over the generations, his descendants have excelled in various fields of learning. “Most of our family is academically strong,and education has been a top priority,” Santhamma once told Reuters.
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“I did grow up in a religious household. My parents are Hindu and that is one of the things that made them such good parents, that made them really good people. And so I have seen the power of that.” Today, some of Usha’s relatives continue to reside in Vadluru village, West Godavari.
