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Mindy Kaling’s Estranged Brother, Vijay Chokal-Ingam, Pretended to Be Black to Get Into Med School: New Statement

Mindy Kaling's brother Vijay Chokalingam
Mindy Kaling's older brother Vijay Chokal-Ingam claims he got into medical school by pretending to be black.

UPDATE: Mindy Kaling’s rep tells Us Weekly: “Mindy has been estranged from her brother for years. She was not aware of his decision to apply to medical school under a different name and race.”

Umm, what? While Mindy Kaling was writing and starring in The Mindy Project, her older brother Vijay Chokal-Ingam, was working on a project of his own: getting into medical school. 

Related: PHOTOS: Mindy Kaling's Mindy Project style

To promote his upcoming book, Almost Black: The True Story of an Indian American Who Got Into Medical School Posing as an African American, Chokal-Ingam, 38, posted details of how he supposedly got into medical school by changing his race on his website

“In my junior year of college, I realized that I didn’t have the grades or test scores to get into medical school, at least not as an Indian-American,” he wrote. “Still, I was determined to become a doctor and I knew that admission standards for certain minorities under affirmative action were, let’s say… less stringent?”

mindy kaling
Mindy Kaling reportedly did not approve of her brother’s decision to tell his story.

Chokal-Ingam went on to shave his head, trim his eyelashes, and join the Organization of Black Students, using his middle name Jojo. With these new credentials, and the same 3.1 GPA and 31 MCAT score, Chokal-Ingam allegedly was admitted as an African-American student. 

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“I became a serious contender at some of the greatest medical schools in America, including Harvard, Wash U, UPenn, Case Western, and Columbia,” he continued. “In all, I interviewed at eleven prestigious medical schools in 9 major cities across America, while posing as a black man.”

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He did admit that there were some downsides to his plan, claiming: “Cops harassed me. Store clerks accused me of shoplifting. Women were either scared of me or couldn’t keep their hands off me.” 

Chokal-Ingam eventually attended St. Louis University’s medical school, but dropped out after two years when he realized he didn’t want to be a doctor. 

As for how Kaling, 35, is taking the news? According to her older brother, she does not approve. 

“I love my sister to death,” Chokal-Ingam told Page Six, but admitted, “She says this will bring shame on the family.”

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