Forty crore for Al Gore, that’s how it’ll go, says Clinton

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22: President Clinton took time off to crack a few jokes at the banquet thrown in his honour by President Narayanan on Tu...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22: President Clinton took time off to crack a few jokes at the banquet thrown in his honour by President Narayanan on Tuesday night. Saying that he had learnt the word “crore” during his visit here — amongst other things — Clinton remarked that when he returned home, he would tell his current VP and Democrat candidate for next President Al Gore, to use the word in his campaign slogan. “Forty crore for Al Gore!” that’s how it’ll go, said Clinton, bringing the house down with laughter.

— Jyoti Malhotra

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH US PREZ

“Ooh, he crushed my hand,” squealed designer Rina Dhaka, after her first close encounter with President Clinton. “Nice,” was Priyanka Gandhi’s brief and non-committal reponse, when asked about the handshake for which she, and hundreds of others, had waited in a queue. “He has a firm grip,” said one, while another dismissed it with a cursory, “it was a hand”. For the several hundred handshake seekers and autograph hunters at US Ambassador Richard Celeste’s reception for Clinton Wednesday morning, that momentary touch made their day. And the President obliged them all. Reaching over the heads of those in front of the queue, making eye contact with those hesitating at the back, a smile here, a nod there, he charmed them all with his effusiveness and spontaneity.

— Nirmala George

GUESS WHO’S LOST IN BILL’S SHADOW

Poor Madeleine Albright. The US Secretary of State is probably pretty much an unpopular figure in the Indian establishment, what with her now famous phrase, issued after the Pokharan tests: “India has dug itself into a hole.” During this visit, too, she has been so completely overshadowed by Clinton’s own remarks on Kashmir — seen by New Delhi as positive and complimentary to India — that Albright was seen to go out of her way at an exclusive briefing to American journalists yesterday. There she insisted, that the US had not shifted its position towards India on either Kashmir or the nuclear issue. Was the lady feeling left out of the frenzied adulation that Clinton was in danger of becoming a victim of, or what?

— J M

MPS’ APPLAUSE METER WORKS OVERTIME

Parliament was so enamoured of Bill Clinton on Wednesday morning that many of the members probably didn’t even wait to hear what he was going to say, before thumping their desks thunderously. Unfortunately, sometimes it happened to be the wrong time. When Clinton talked of the “pain and agony” of the hijacking of IC-814 and the death of Ripan Katyal, the MPs clapped. When he talked about the massacre of the Sikhs in the Kashmir Valley, they thumped their desks. And when he said that the US had “persuaded” Pakistan to withdraw from the LoC, they were at it again.

— J M