Kem chho? Modi asks Chinese delegates; Maja ma, they reply

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President of China Xi Jinping in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. (Source: Express photo by Javed Raja)

As Gujarat readied to host Chinese president Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan on Wednesday, the festive spirit of its biggest festivals — Navratri and Diwali — seemed to have advanced by a few weeks. Governor O P Kohli and chief minister Anandiben Patel, who rode an electric car on the tarmac to the Air China aircraft, welcomed Xi and Liyuan at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport as  bands played. The numbers they played included a popular garba song, Eke Laal Darwaje tambu taniya re lol, which has the city of Ahmedabad as its theme. Interestingly, they also played, among other tunes, Sandesey aate hain from Hindi film Border.

In a first, the women battalion of the State Reserve Police (SRP) gave the guard of honour to President Jinping and the First Lady. The police band performed with the band of Swaminarayan sect of Maninagar. Chandu Varia of the Maninagar Swaminarayan sect said, “The Swami Bapa Swami Shree pipe band of Maninagar played Sandesey aate hain and a song of ours, Swaminarayan gaadi che Kalyankaari.”
Around 30 women personnel of the SRP were selected for the guard of honour, led by deputy SP of Surendranagar district, Panna
Momaya. Girls dressed in chaniya cholis welcomed the delegates, who walked under colourful traditional applique umbrellas from Kutch.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waited at the Hyatt Hotel in Vastrapur where the MoUs were to be inked. At the porch of this hotel, which is attached to a swanky mall on the bank of the Vastrapur lake,  Modi was seen taking  a slip out of his pocket to read something, just before Xi and his wife  arrived in a black BMW. Modi then took the couple inside to guide them through the heritage gallery, specially put up by the hotel with panels on the Buddhist heritage in Gujarat – exactly the same slides as Modi had put up on Twitter on Monday.

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The Chinese delegation were full of surprises for their Indian counterparts at The Hyatt. During the interaction between the invitees with the Chinese delegation, Modi addressed all the individuals, including many Chinese officials, by name. Invitees present told this paper that some Chinese delegates interacted with Modi in Gujarati, responding with a “Maja ma” to  Modi’s “Kem Chho?.” —  a typical Gujarati greeting.

“I was completely taken aback with the kind of response that came from Chinese. A girl beside me wanted to shake hands with Modi. Modi readily agreed and shook hands with her. The woman couldn’t believe it and remained ecstatic for quite some time,” said a source.