Michelle, charm personified
It is not easy to be the wife of the President of America. The First lady has to always be perfect as she represent her country. One has been observing Michelle Obama ever since she started campaign in the U.S. elections for her husband. She comes across as a modern yet grounded and very family oriented person. On her first trip to India she floored the young and the old with ease and charm. Michelle is obviously good at dancing and so struck an immediate cord with the Indians as she spontaneously took to the floor with the right bhangra steps with the special children in Bombay. Her relationship with her husband is a pleasant change after the Clinton’s and Prince Charles and Diana. Unlike these couple’s one noticed that The Obama’s held hands, exchanged smiles and made eye contact which shows that the chemistry between them is strong. Her slick gelled hairstyle, with casual printed blouse and pumps showed great attitude and style. And much like any lady she also ran out of money shopping at the crafts bazaar. Barack Obama has a special connection with India because he is a Gandhi follower and carry’s a little Ganesha in his pocket for good luck. Michelle’s choice of bold colours like hot pink and turquoise showed her Indian touch. She may not appear porcelain perfect like a “Carla Brunei” or “Jacqueline Kennedy” but, she knows what suits her frame and skin tone best. So, she sticks to that. She is a perfect companion to the President of America as she is intelligent, articulate and chooses to support her husband. But, there is no doubt, that she is a star in herself. The guest’s at the Prime Ministers private dinner found her warm, charming, spontaneous and easy to get along with.
Delhi's ethnic scene
While Delhi is dominated by the loud and expanding or rather exploding Diwali culture it is easy to miss out on the growing impact and the influence of festival sub cultures. It is an index of both of how Delhi is growing and expanding but also of how cosmopolitan it is increasingly getting. Barely had the crackers of an unusually loud Diwali died down and hardly had the fire tenders get a chance to rest than the, Chhath puja preparations peaked up. The most auspicious festival for the Poorvanchali. Chhath puja used to be an eastern U.P and Bihar festival but is now a big local event. Big enough, politically too, since this year the BJP has demanded that a public holiday be declared for their festival too. Before the ghats can be emptied out along comes yet another festival ‘the favourite of the growing Oriya’ population and the ISKON followers. Orissa just having got itself renamed as ‘Odissa’ is also an increasingly vocal aspect of Delhi’s ethno-culture scene and demand to be heard too. In between all this one wonders whit the Diwali hangover Delhites will ever get back to work.
'kissa kursi ka'
Politics is a game of musical chairs. We have seen it literally happening all the time. One observes that in the cabinet reshuffle and chief ministers changing. One goes and the other arrives. But each one has his own good luck charms and prayers done before sitting on the chair. Recently when Obama was to address The Parliament, The M.P’s ran around looking for seats in the front rows. Subi Ram Reddy got a perfect seat but Subi being Subi could not sit still as he saw leaders and went to say his ‘Namaste’s’. As it happened his colleagues did not let any one take his seat. So, everything went well. Then came Rahul Gandhi and asked if the seat was vacant for him to sit. ‘Of course’ said the M.P’s and when Subi came back after doing his PR and he had to stand at the back till the end. ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ is a saying Subi needs to remember in the capital all the time. The others who had tried to sit on Subi’s seat and were turned away were ‘Mohsina Kidwa’ and ‘Moti Lal Vohra’ , but Rahul, who can say no to him?
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