AtulKeshap, the newly appointed Charge d’ Affaires at the US Embassy in India, shares very old connections with India. “Before departure for #India, I went home to #Charlottesville to seek my Mother’s blessings. She served in the #ForeignService at the US Embassy in New Delhi 1958-1960”, Keshap wrote on Twitter.

Keshap most recently served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and as the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, the US State Department announced. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is said to be the next US Ambassador to India. Garcetti was rumoured to run for President in 2020, according to the Los Angeles Times. The State Department said AtulKeshap, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, will be departing for New Delhi to serve as Charge d’ Affaires, ad interim, following the retirement of Ambassador Daniel Smith. Ambassador Keshap will bring a wealth of experience to the role, having served previously at US Embassy New Delhi and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia. “Ambassador Keshap’s appointment will reinforce the close US partnership with the government and people of India, demonstrated by our collaboration to overcome global challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic”, the State Department said. As per reports, his father, KeshapChander Sen was from Punjab and a United Nations economist working in Nigeria where Keshap was born in 1971. His mother, Zoe Calvert, had been in the U.S. Foreign Service when she met and married Sen in London. She also served at the US embassy in India.