manmohan singh arrived inU.S

What a difference a few months make. It was not so long ago that many eyebrows shot up at the apparent low-priority that the newly-elected President Obama placed on India.  While Obama made AF-PAK a top foreign policy priority for his administration and reached out to the leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he did not reach out to India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

While Hillary Clinton and special envoyRichard Holbrooke flew in and out of Pakistan and Afghanistan, there was not much talk on how the next level of relationship between India and the US will evolve. As Fareed Zakaria recently put it on his show it seems the new administration was ignorning the third country and largest country in that region. The new administration’s policy appeared to be different from the previous Republican President George W. Bush’s policy towards India. Under Bush the US-India relationship had reached a new level.

Looking at the developments in the last few weeks it appears that India is back in the spotlight and the buzz is all about Mr. Singh’s visit to Washington later this week. This will be President Obama’s first state dinner, and I suspect there is some symbolic significance to that. Mr. Singh’s visit comes at a crucial time: on the eve of the anniversary of the Mumbai attack, also known as 26/11. Just a year ago on Thanksgiving weekend 10 Pakistani men crossed the waters from Pakistan to India in a small boat and terrorized  India’s financial and entertainment capital for over 3 days.

Interestingly, what appears to dominate the current buzz of Mr. Singh’s visit to Washington are not issues, but is instead about the social aspects surrounding the upcoming, all important first  state dinner on Tuesday. The buzz appears to have originated in the beltway region, but has since percolated to various media outlets.

We will know the outcome of Mr. Singh’s visit a few days later when it gets sliced and diced by various analyst, observers and news media organizations. In the meantime, the chitchat is all about the who, what and where of the state dinner for Mr. Singh. Who is being invited? Who is the chef that is going to whip up the dishes for this state dinner?

According to various reports it could be Marcus Samuelsson of New York’s Aquavit that might cook the dinner. Will there be curry, or should I say Indian-inspired food on the menu? President Obama is partial to “desi khana” and is supposedly partial to dhal and can whip up the dish in his kitchen. (Remember the 60 Minutes interview with candidate Obama where he talked about desi khana?)  Oh, and let us not forget the fashion angle to this whole social event. What will Michelle Obama wear for this event and what clothes should others wear?

Mitra Kalita of The Wall Street Journal writes in Desis in White House that an invitation to this prestigious White House dinner is at the top of the list for quite a few movers and shakers in the desi community.  In spite of the supposed embargo on the menu, guest list etc somehow news has trickled down on who will be at Obama’s first state dinner. Politico reports that the Republican Governor of Louisiana  Bobby Jindalwill be there. However, the Republican minority leader has apparently  declined  the dinner invitation. Rumors have been floating around that talk show queen Oprah might be there for the dinner.

Of course, Kal Penn Modi, the Hollywood actor who has is on a hiatus from his acting career and working with the White House will be there for the diner. Hillary Clinton will be there, minus President Bill Clinton according to some reports.  We will know the details of the guest list, the menu, entertainment and all other social aspects of the dinner only on Tuesday. In the meantime, Politico has come up with its top 10 dream-list suggestions on who should be invited for this much talked about dinner event.

The last time Mr. Singh came to the White House for a dinner was in 2005 when he was hosted by Mr & Mrs. George W. Bush. The question is: could this state dinner hold a recipe for success? We will know next week and in the months following that dinner.

But, before I sign off let me offer my 2-cents of what to expect in the menu.I suspect there will be more than one Indian-inspired dish, but I can say with some degree of confidence that these ingredients will be used for sure: cilantro, ginger, rice, yogurt.

$Boopathi$, November 23, 2009