Srinagar, July 24: The Indo-US diplomatic curry has a Kashmiri tadka. In the midst of all the high-profile engagements, US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton made the time to meet her Kashmiri friend, Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo, at a hotel in New Delhi.
Hillary Clinton visits IndiaWangnoo, who owns a Kashmiri handicrafts showroom, has been a friend of the Clintons for a long time. In 2000, when then president Bill Clinton was in India, he visited Wangnoo’s showroom and bought some handicrafts.
This time, it was his wife as secretary of state who took some time off her busy schedule to visit the Wangnoos. On behalf of the people of Kashmir, they presented the secretary of state a pheran, which is a loose gown traditionally worn by Kashmiri women. Clinton wore the dress and sportingly posed for the cameras.
“She wanted to visit us at our showroom in Maurya Sheraton, but there was some renovation going on. So I went to Taj hotel where she was staying. We booked a room on the 8th floor and she was kind enough to visit us there in the middle of a busy schedule,” said Wangnoo.
Clinton was also presented a pashmina shawl by Wangnoo on behalf of the family. “We showed her a brochure depicting the beauty of Kashmir. She was very enamoured and said she would love to visit Kashmir. When I showed her an album of her first visit in 1995, she said in a lighter vein, ‘We still are young’,” Wangnoo said.
The Wangnoos used the occasion to request her to set up an emporium for Kashmiri handicrafts in the US. “We said it should be a government-to-government initiative. There should be an emporium for Kashmiris in US which could boost the economy of Kashmir,” said Wangnoo.
Clinton was so pleased with the hospitality that she sent a handwritten note to the Wangnoos. “It was a proud moment for Kashmir. Credit goes to all our artisans for producing such beautiful items and doing our state proud,” said Wangnoo.
—Agencies