What an evening — Clinton in full form, John Grisham, Goldie Hawn, even KBC

Indian-Americans and Indophiles dominated the evening. Among the invites were the cream of Indian-American society: Director Manoj Night Shyamalan, New Age Guru Deepak Chopra, McKinsey CEO Rajat Gupta, astronaut Kalpana Chawla, tennis player Vijay Amritraj.

India’s high powered Silicon Valley elite were also present in strength in the form of Sycamore Networks Desh Deshpande, Kleiner Perkins Vinod Khosla, Arzoo’s Sabeer Bhatia, Vinod Dham of Pentium fame, and several others.

The proliferation of Indians led Clinton to chortle, “There are morethan 1 million Indians here in America now. And I think more than half of them are here tonight. And I might say, Prime Minister, the other half aredisappointed that they’re not here.”

But the President also paid them rich compliments, reminding the gathering that Indian-Americans now run more than 750 companies in Silicon Valley alone.

There are hundreds of American businesses, foundations and universities with long commitments to India. When Americans call Microsoft for customersupport today, they’re as likely to be talking to someone in Bangalore or Hyderabad as to someone in Seattle, Clinton said.

Also at the dinner was a smattering of the entertainment elite: actress Goldie Hawn, supermodel Christine Brinkley, singer Melissa Etheridge, andcomedian Chevy Chase.

But it was really Bill Clinton’s show, as he assuredly revealed again that when he is out of work early next year, his superb timing and light touch could easily land him a job as a TV host or a stand-up comic. Reminding the guests how Americans have fallen in love with Indian novels, Clinton disclosed that Prime Minister Vajpayee, when he is not writing Hindipoetry, actually likes to read John Grisham.

“You might be interested to note, Mr Prime Minister, that he’s a distant relative of mine. All the Grishams of money are distant relatives of mine,” Clinton, whose legal bills are a scandal, said amid peals of laughter.

Clinton (and his aides) also showed the kind of deft work that goes into dinner diplomacy speechwriting with a winning reference to the craze across the world. “And, don’t forget, whether we’re in California or Calcutta, we all want to be a crorepati,” Clinton said, while on the business of Grishams and money. “Now for the culturally challenged Americans among us, that’s from India’s version of `Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.”’

Even Vajpayee’s aides, typically dull and pedantic in their speechwriting efforts, managed to briefly summon a light touch.

The Prime Minister said he owed his presence here principally to two persons, widely separated in time and also in space. One was the explorer, Christopher Columbus, who set sail for India but landed in America. The other was Bill Clinton.

“I sometimes wonder where you would be, or where we would be, if he had actually reached India,” Vajpayee said amid laughter. “I’m glad Columbus discovered America. That enabled me to discover India,” Clinton said later.

Under crystal chandeliers hanging above tables bedecked with hydrangea, guests feasted on a main course of wild copper river salmon with red kuri sauce and rice bean ragout.

The dessert menu included mango and banana lotus, litchees and raspberry sauce, and a Majestic Tigers Delight of honey almond squares and chocolate coconut bars.

For entertainment, the president and Hillary Clinton invited the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York. Several Indian fusion music groups were considered but the idea was abandoned. In fact, among the invitees who did not turn up was the tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, who was at a New York party of another no-show Ismail Merchant.

Vajpayee and his entourage left the banquet shortly after ten p.m, but the party raged on till the wee hours, as the President and the First Lady personally received the guests in the diplomatic room and invitedthem for post-dinner coffee and dancing.