(The gold-engraved invitations are the hottest tickets in town. Photo Doug Mills/The New York Times)
Photographs of US President George Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair have evoked interest, and even mirth, whenever the two appeared together in the past several years.
I now look forward, for a change, to a pictorial study of GWB and the British Queen dining together. It will be the Bushes‘ fifth state dinner in six years, but the first white-tie state dinner of his presidency. (There were three white-tie dinners during the Clinton administration and one during the Reagan administration, reports AP).
“How does George W. Bush, a towel-snapping Texan who puts his feet on the coffee table, drinks water straight from the bottle and was once caught on tape talking with food in his mouth prepare for a state dinner with the queen?” asks The New York Times.
“The visit has brought a sense of giddiness to a White House worn down by the Iraq war and fights with Democrats in Congress, as well as distracted by a sex scandal that brought the resignation of a top State Department official.”
Read on…
I am always curious to know what the menu would be at such high-powered dinners (as a young reporter I managed to find out the menu at the State banquet in honour of President Richard Nixon when he visited India).
So I visited the official White House site and found out: “Mrs. Bush planned the dinner menu with her Social Secretary Amy Zantzinger and Executive Chef Cristeta ‘Cris’ Comerford to prepare the dinner menu. Chef Comerford has worked in the White House kitchen since 1995 and was named Executive Chef in August, 2005.
“Mrs. Bush also coordinated with Social Secretary Amy Zantzinger and Bill Yosses, the White House Executive Pastry Chef responsible for creating the dessert. Chef Yosses was named Executive Pastry Chef in January 2007.
“The menu will include five courses: Appetizer/Soup, Fish, Meat, Salad and Dessert.”
My mouth is already watering!!!
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.