'Dhanyawad,' says Obama. And 'Jai Hind'

New Delhi: As he paused and carefully enunciated "Lok Sabha" and "Rajya Sabha" very early in his address to the Indian Parliament, it was clear that President Barack Obama would attempt to charm with a generous sprinkle of Hindi and other things India.

Very soon thereafter, he thanked India for the warm welcome to his wife Michelle and him and charmingly said, "Bahut Dhanyawad". Later in the speech, he gingerly worked his way through "Punjab", "Chandni Chowk" for its bylanes, "Kolkata and Bangalore" (not Bengaluru) said rather well.

"Dalit' rolled off fine, but "BR Ambedkar" needed some attention and effort. "Panchatantra" was brave by any standards.

The best was saved for the last, when Obama said "Jai Hind" with much panache.

In 36 minutes of an intellectual and emotional speech, Obama dug deep to bring up quotes, names of people and references to events that matter in the Indian context. He referred to the visit of Swami Vivekananda to Chicago, Obama's home town. He quoted Rabindranath Tagore in saying, "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.   

Each mention elicited much applause.

And then, of course, there was Mahatma Gandhi, whom Obama has repeatedly acknowledged as a personal hero. He made elaborate mention of Gandhi, who has been a leitmotif in the Obama visit - in both speech, the written word and the places the US President and his wife have chosen to tour.

IANS counted and reports that Obama mentioned India 61 times in his speech in Parliament.