Four things we learnt on Indian hospitality from Obama's arrival
The first day of the Obamas visit to india is a good opportunity to put the rules of Indian hospitality to the test - did we measure up to our own standards? Here's a checklist...
Garlands at the airport
Even though there plans by tourism ministry to garland all foreign visitors to india in true Indian tradition - it remains one of those slightly awkward but easily recognisable Indian traditions our hotels also practice with guests and despite our archives full of evidence of the diplomatic tradition of garlanding visiting dignitaries and their spouses from Richard Nixon to Tony and Cherie Blair and Diana, princess of Wales, the garland was, much like the minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, conspicuous by its absence. Just as well, as it would have clashed terribly with the floral dress by Indian American designer Bibhu Mohapatra that Michelle Obama had chosen for disembarkation from Air Force One.
Westerners handshake, Indians jhappi.
Western folks shake hands by way of greeting but this is a bit insipid for us Indians, who prefer to maro jhappi. From filmstars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, to heads of state like Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi, we've shown that it's just in our DNA - that's just how we roll and say hello. This, besides being warm and friendly, also makes for great social media fodder as the pictures of the exchange inevitably lend themselves to man-jokes, a genre of humour we are beginning to excel at on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter which for the rest of the day is overflowing with the uploaded along with captions of man-jokes.
It's not an event till a stray has ambled into the august gathering.
Whether it is the first ever Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit especially created for the event in Greater Noida or the Rashrapati Bhavan where the visiting US president received the guard of honour, it's not an event till a stray dog or bovine has made its way across it, dutifully captured by cameras. Then various people spend a lot of time analysing why we are so inefficient that we can't keep strays out, or so endearing that we live among cows, buffaloes and canines without giving it much thought. Until next time and the next big event, when another stray attempts to steal the show.
We like to make a song and dance and drama over everything, literally.
Even as the star guests have not yet touched down, like in a big cricket win, spontaneous (or sponsored) song and dance of all kinds will break out over the country, from left groups protesting against a visit by the head of state of from the capitalist west, or as we saw in the case of the Obama visit, Nagpur, where shank blowing was accompanied with drum beating, the drums bearing the picture of the visiting dignitary Barry O.