Home Coming: Usha Vance and Children Accompany Vice President to India on ‘Official and Personal’ Visit
- The second family is scheduled to travel next to Agra and Jaipur, but its unclear, however, if they will visit Andhra Pradesh, where the second lady’s family hails from.
It is sort of a homecoming for Usha Vance. The Second Lady of the United States landed in India on April 21, along with her husband, Vice President JD Vance and their three children, in what is described as a “both official and personal” visit.
As they disembarked the plane in Delhi, the kids were seen in Indian attire. Their mother Usha, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was wearing a dress from Saloni, a label created by Indian and London-based fashion designer Saloni Lodha. Ewan, 8, wore a grey kurta pyjama, while his five-year-old brother Vivek was dressed in yellow. Their three-year-old daughter Mirabel was dressed in a teal green anarkali suit and a jacket.
Usha Vance grew up in a San Diego suburb. Her parents, Chilukuri Radhakrishna (Krish) and Lakshmi Chilukuri, are originally from Andhra Pradesh and moved to the U.S. in 1980. An attorney, Usha worked as an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, a job she quit the day after Trump chose Vance as his running mate. Her father, Krish Chilukuri, is an engineer teaching at San Diego State University, while her mother, Lakshmi, is a molecular biology professor and provost of the Sixth College at UC San Diego.
The vice president kickstarted his India visit with a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It comes on the backdrop of President Trump’s imposing and then pausing “a sweeping tariff regime against around 60 countries,” as reported by news media. It also “comes in the wake of New Delhi and Washington holding negotiations to seal a bilateral trade agreement that is expected to address a variety of issues, including tariffs and market access.”
After Vance’s meeting with Modi, the family visited the Akshardham Temple and then stopped by the government-run Cottage Emporium. In the evening, Vance held talks with Modi and met with senior ministers of the government. It was followed by a dinner for the second family.
The Vances are scheduled to travel to Agra and Jaipur and are supposed to attend a family wedding in the Pink City. It is not clear, however, if the Vances will visit Andhra Pradesh, where Usha’s family hails from. According to reports in the Indian Express, the Vances’ visit has “sparked a wave of excitement and emotion among villagers in the small village of Vadluru in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The village is “abuzz with anticipation,” the Indian Express report said, noting that their are “urging the family to make time to visit their ancestral roots.”
Meanwhile, the Vice President’s India visit is not expected to generate any controversy, unlike his first trip as vice president to Europe in February, or the visit to Greenland, where he and the second lady received an ice-cold reception.