NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
P Jayaram in New Delhi
After waiting nearly a month to present his credentials, United States Ambassador-designate Robert Blackwill is embarking on a weeklong 'discovery of India' by train to get to know the country better.
The US embassy said Blackwill, who arrived in New Delhi in early August, but is yet to present his credentials to President K R Narayanan because the latter has been ill, will take the super-fast Rajdhani Express from Delhi to Jaipur late on Monday.
The Indian government has allowed him to carry out his ambassadorial functions despite the non-presentation of credentials. He will visit places of interest in Jaipur on Tuesday and speak on Indian culture and history at a roundtable meeting.
In undertaking the train journey to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Blackwill is following in the footsteps on one of his predecessors, Professor John Kenneth Galbraith, who undertook a similar journey in the early 1960s.
Blackwill's odyssey, say embassy sources, is expected to send out a message that the administration of President George W Bush, Jr, has more than commercial and business interests in India and is looking at long-term, multi-dimensional relations with the country.
From Jaipur, he will take the Ashram Express to Ahmedabad and visit Paiya village in the earthquake-hit Bhuj area of Gujarat on Wednesday. He will see the various relief projects undertaken by the USAid programme and speak on 'US relief and recovery assistance and disaster assistance' before returning to Ahmedabad.
Blackwill, who was teaching at Harvard University before taking up the current assignment, will lecture students of the Indian Institute of Management before leaving for Bombay on Thursday.
In Bombay, he will address business leaders on 'Indian economy and US-India business and commercial ties' at a luncheon jointly organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and the Indo-American Society.
During his stay in the city, he will call on prominent business leaders like Ratan Tata, Keshub Mahindra and ICICI chief executive K V Kamath.
He will also have an interaction with prominent artistes like Lakshman Shreshta, Jehangir Sabavala, Akbar Padamsee, Gieve Patel and Nalini Malani and address a roundtable meeting on 'Indian artistic and cultural heritage and current state'.
He will visit some of the art galleries in Bombay and attend a cultural evening at the Jamshed Bhabha Auditorium.
He will fly from Bombay to Udaipur on Friday, where he will visit the City Palace complex and other places of cultural importance and call on former maharaja Arvind Singh Mewar.
From Udaipur, he will travel by road to the holiday resort of Mount Abu on Saturday before boarding the Rajdhani Express to return to the capital on September 10.
Indo-Asian News Service
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
