NEW DELHI, APRIL 4: While US President Bill Clinton can't stop talking about his dream visit to India, people across cities and towns which he visited are still reeling under the `Clinton Effect'.Take Table 64 at Bukhara in New Delhi's Maurya Sheraton hotel where Clinton and his daughter Chelsea ate their favourite North-West Frontier food twice. It has become the one place in the restaurant where everyone wants to sit down and have a meal."We have a capacity of 140 seats here, but no one wants to sit anywhere else if they can help it. Their first preference is the table where the Clintons sat and they are ready to wait for up to an hour after placing their bookings," says Executive Chef Gev Desai, adding that "it has become a tourist attraction."Some people don't even look at the menu when they settle down to place their order. They just tell the staff to get them whatever President Clinton ate (which included everything from Sikandari naan to prawns, papad to chutney) even though the restaurant offers nothing called a Clinton meal. They also want to preserve this moment for posterity by getting themselves photographed.The situation is no different in Mumbai. Cafe Royale, where Clinton addressed a meeting, has a constant stream of new visitors. Says manager Kanchan Athalye, "the President's visit has certainly given the cafe more visibility."Those eating at the cafe want to know where he sat and what he had so that they can have the same thing. But they quickly change their mind when they are told that he had only a Diet Coke laced with honey.But this Clintonmania is not restricted to restaurants alone. At Agra, where the President crossed over to that part of humanity which has seen the Taj Mahal, visitors are jumping over the temporary fence on the walkway to set foot on what is being referred to as the `Clinton spot' so that they can have themselves clicked the same way he did.And the women of Nayla village in Rajasthan are still basking in the glow of their at-home for Clinton. It is here that they threw their veil as well as inhibitions to the wind, shook hands with him and swung merrily to the point of getting carried away with excitement.In Hyderabad, where the President reached out to TB patients and administered polio drops to new-born babies, `Clinton cure' is the buzz word. Says an excited Dr K J R Murthy who received Clinton at Mahavir Hospital, "he held my hand for five minutes as I explained the functioning of the DOTS programme for the treatment of this disease. It was a great occasion not only for me but also for my family and friends. Since then, I have been receiving numerous e-mails from all over the world, including the WHO."For the three patients - Chaitanya, Niteswari and Mahaboob - who were declared cured of TB, Clinton was a "big doctor". Though life has not changed much for Mahaboob, an autorickshaw driver, he holds forth on every aspect of his meeting with the President with fellow autorickshaw drivers.(With bureau reports)
