When Siri Fort became the White House

Even before US President Barack Obama arrived and enthralled the crowd with his speech, there was a lot of excitement at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.

People had started gathering early in the cold winter morning in the capital as security had been beefed up for the President’s arrival. Media personnel were asked to assemble at Gate number 2 with a letter from the US Embassy here which read, “This is a confirmation that (name of the correspondent) has been approved by the White House to attend the event on January 27.” The letter asked media personnel to bring their photo IDs.

At the gate, media personnel were asked to get in touch with two White House officials who ticked their names on a list and asked them to wear the White House Press Pool badge before joining the line for going through a security check.

After completing the security check, it was few short steps to the entrance of the hall where the President was to address a gathering of people from all walks of life, including Noble Peace prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. But before you entered the building, you were again frisked thoroughly.

The hall was jam packed. Probably bored with waiting for the main event to start, the crowd burst into an applause when a lady (probably from the secret service) walked on to the podium and placed the President’s speech there. Some tried to figure out what Obama was going to say by trying to read the teleprompter which had been put on.

Minutes later a man arrived carrying a glass of water for the President, and he, too, was greeted with cheers. He was followed by another who came and pasted the Presidential seal on the podium to the loudest cheering till then.

But all the boredom and the hassles of waiting slipped away as soon as Obama walked in minutes after his wife and immediately swept the audience off its feet by starting his speech with a “ bahut dhaniyavaad” .

The initial parts of his speech had a smattering of Hindi and much to the joy of those present he also ended his speech with “Jai Hind” .

Soon after the speech ended, the President and his wife walked across the front row shaking hands with those present in the front rows leading to screams from other parts of the hall, “Mr President please also come to the back.”

Michelle Obama not only shook hands but also stopped and briefly chatted with some of the people in the crowd much to their delight.

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