Small Talk

Orphaned in Calcutta, crowned in Indiana

From a humble desi background, not only did Courtni Hall find a home in the US, today she is representing her state in the Miss America pageant. Vishal Gangawane checks out the pretty young woman

Vishal Gangawane

Posted On Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 11:33:54 PM

A girl is born in teeming Calcutta. Abandoned at birth, the underweight at 2 pounds 2 ounces baby, like thousands others like her across many large cities in India, faces a bleak future. But this story has a serendipitous twist.

An American couple fall in love with her and at the age of five months, when the baby girl has gained strength to take the flight, she goes away to her new home in America. But wait, there’s more. Not only does the girl do very well, she goes on to become a pretty young woman, smart enough to represent her state as Miss Indiana in the Miss America pageant.

Courtni Hall of Crawfordsville, Indiana has, some speed bumps notwithstanding, come some way.

In an email interview with the Pune Mirror, young Hall came across as endearingly honest and delightfully free of bitterness.

Courtni Hall now enjoys a good life, loves to smile and laugh a lot she says, is working for her pilot’s license with help from her boyfriend and despite her beauty queen status doesn’t hesitate before gorging on a large pizza. The last, she says, is thanks to her ultra fast metabolism.

But it wasn’t always easy. A brown child of white parents, Hall was five when she learnt that she was adopted. “I first learned I was adopted when I was in first grade. I was being asked some really harsh questions about my race that was when I asked my parents,” Hall said, “It wasn’t easy because I was learning about adoption while at the same time of trying to understand it myself.”

But once Hall accepted her ancestry and came to terms with her identity, she could understand herself better. “It wasn’t until I was in high school when I really fully embraced my heritage and how I was so proud to be 100% Indian or desi,” she wrote, adding, “I only wish I had learned more about my culture and language when I was growing up."

But Hall’s life looks like fun now. “I love singing, travelling, flying, cooking, watching the Food Network and movies, making others laugh, and eating my Aunt Pam’s chocolate chip cookies,” she wrote. And she’s working for her pilot’s license, “Flying is so much fun! I became interested through friends and my boyfriend who is also my instructor. It’s such a great feeling of limitless freedom. You now can see through the eyes of God as you watch life play out beneath you.”

While Hall’s not been to India but it’s definitely on her to do list. “When I think of India I think of warmth of people and climate (quite opposite of Indiana winters), desis, tradition, intelligence, and spirituality.”

On a question about if she ever wonders how life would have been had she not been adopted, Hall wrote movingly about how, as a child, she dreamt of going to India with her baby picture and find her biological mother.

“When I was younger I thought I could go back to India and carry a baby picture of me and show it to people and she would know automatically that she was my mom. Silly, I know now but I thought it was a good idea at the time,” Hall wrote, “ I could only fathom how difficult and lonely my life would have been growing up alone in such a populated city. My only insight to that life is that of the characters from Slumdog Millionaire.” “I also wonder about my biological mother. Little things like if I look like her, do I have some of her mannerisms and if she is beautiful. One big question I have always wondered is why she chose to give me up and if she said goodbye,” Hall wrote.

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Orphaned in Calcutta, crowned in Indiana

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