Shouts of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', 'Vande Mataram'

A lady in a white salwar suit leads the chants of people holding both Indian and US flags.
Rediff.com US Contributor Abhijit J Masih reports from the White House.

Eera and Mike have come all over from California to be here at the White House. Mike is the only White surrounded by the Indian crowd.

"We're excited to be here," Mike says, standing alongside his Indian origin wife.

The band takes a breather while an Indian dressed in a green lehenga choli plays the violin from the balcony of the White House.

The all boy a capella group Penne Masala from the the University of Pennsylvania performs on the staircase of the White House. As they sing O Re Piya and the line Saazish mein Sara Jahan Hai, the baarish comes down.

They start Chhaiya Chhaiya, and the crowd, which had quitened by now, erupts.

After a long wait, with people lining up at the White House from before 7 am, the start of of the ceremony begins after a wait of two-and-a-half hours.

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EARLIER...

After a wait of almost an hour in the White House briefing room, journalists are escorted to the South Lawn.

As soon as the press contingent makes its way to the middle of the lawn, there are shouts of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai and "Vande Mataram." A lady in a white salwar suit leads the chants of people holding both Indian and US flags.

The music on the speakers, probably played by the Marine Band, is almost drowned by the noise from the desi crowd.

The podium upfront and center is flanked by two wings on either side filled with Indians of prominence, evident by the proximity to the podium. A few sari clad women take selfies with military personnel dressed in official ceremony finery.

A family of five, originally from Hyderabad who now live in Virginia, tell me how excited they are to be here. The teenager daughter says, "It's good to see politicians up close from both the countries."

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STILL EARLIER...

You see Indians, most dressed traditionally, in the Metro, on the cordoned off streets and at all the gates of the White House.

Three formally attired Indian Americans are on the train with me alighting at the same station near the White House.

With no doubt about their destination, I ask from where they have come and the two gentleman and lady tell me they have driven from North Carolina for the White House official welcome ceremony for Prime Minister Narendra D Modi.

The gates on the north west side have more than a hundred journalists along with their crews.

Most television anchors are busy with their frantic reporting about the buzz around the White House.

The media are let in after cross checking with the list available with the Secret Service, which guards the US president and his family.

The weather gods have not been kind to the State visit. It has been raining and it is likely to be cloudy and gloomy through Thursday.

The weather though has no effect on the smiling faces of the Indians queueing up outside the White House.

The White House seems drenched with excitement.

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