American Diplomats

VIRAJ LEBAILLY, who worked as
a consular and political officer in
New Delhi, was born in Connecticut
to parents who went to the United States
from Gujarat as students. LeBailly took
the Foreign Service exams when she was
a graduate student, and joined soon after
she received her master’s degree in
international relations from Yale
University.
“What interests me most about the
Foreign Service is America’s foreign
policy. I’m interested in travel and seeing
places, meeting people and explaining
what we’re about and the U.S.
perspective on issues,” she says. “I get
out and speak with government officials
and others about U.S. policies. Part of the
fun of being here is people are so
interested in what is going on, and they
want to talk about the U.S. and India.”
LeBailly’s husband, Etienne, is also a
Foreign Service officer, who worked in
the consular and economic sections in
New Delhi. His mother is a first-
generation American from France. The
couple met at Trinity College in Hartford,
Connecticut, and married after graduate
school. “We had a Hindu wedding
ceremony, modified to what we could get
done in Connecticut,” she says, “so no
elephants, and it took one afternoon.”
They’ve enjoyed traveling throughout
India and exploring less visited parts of
the country.
LeBailly’s parents met in the United
States and settled in Connecticut, where
they found job opportunities, after her
father studied engineering and her mother
microbiology.
LeBailly first came to India very soon
after she was born, to meet her
grandparents. She came a couple more
VIRAJ LEBAILLY
"Part of the fun of being
here is people are so
interested in what is
going on, and they want
to talk about the U.S.
and India."
Left: Viraj LeBailly enjoying
Jhansi, in Uttar Pradesh, and in
her office at the U.S. Embassy
in New Delhi.
times growing up and after graduating
from college.
“I remember coming here and meeting
aunts and uncles whose names I knew,” she
says. “We tended to come in the summer
when it was very hot, and we would bring
water toys to give to our cousins. We also
brought foods from home that we missed
and could share with the other children.”
Coming back as a diplomat, she says,
“has given me an opportunity to emphasize
to people I meet that America is full
of people like me, with backgrounds of
all kinds, who can come from all over
and can do anything, including represent
their government. America is not a
homogenous place.”
When she has children, LeBailly says,
“I would want them to know about their
grandparents and India’s history, which
perhaps will be part of what they learn in
school.”
SPAN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 47