M A I N   N E W S

Michelle goes shopping
She is the Fashionista
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 8
The First Lady of the US, Michelle Obama today sampled India's cultural riches and diversity at the National Crafts Museum in the Capital, which houses a permanent collection of 20,000 folk and tribal arts, in her first solo official visit in Delhi.

Michelle, dressed elegantly in a green skirt and a black top, reached the museum after paying respects at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at the Rajghat. Accompanied by 15 young girls from local non-governmental organisations that work with young girls from poor communities and Sally Roemer, wife of US Ambassador to India Tim Roemer, Michelle walked through the museum's open and semi-open passages covered with sloping, tiled roofs that is built like an Indian village. The tour group also stopped at the museum’s marketplace, where every month different craftspeople from all over India show off their products and skills.

US First Lady Michelle Obama admires handicrafts and tries on a necklace in New Delhi on Monday. — AFP

The museum’s director, Dr Ruchira Ghosh who guided the First Lady and the girls through the museum, later said, “She purchased a lot of gifts for Christmas at the museum. She purchased four kantha bedspreads from a Bengal counter, greeting cards hand painted with Madhubani motifs from Bihar, colourful wooden key chains, Ganesha icons from Karnataka, and a crochet dining table cover from Andhra Pradesh.”

US First Lady Michelle Obama with a group of children during her visit to National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (Crafts Museum) in New Delhi on Monday. Michelle is an undisputed hit in India. — AFP

Accessories, colourful textile craft from the North-East and wood craft also caught Michelle’s attention. She also bought 15 mobile covers, 15 rag Gujarati dolls and five embroidered bags, hand fans and elephants made of rice stalks. “We were prepared for her visit pretty much. She (Michelle) was interested in genuinely knowing a little bit of background about every art piece that caught her attention. The girls also seemed to have a great time with her,” added Ghosh.

Michelle sat down for snacks with the girl under a canopy of trees and asked them to introduce themselves. She answered queries about her "dreams, her life, her daughters and enquired about the children - and their livelihoods". Fourteen-year-old Manpreet Kaur, who came by overnight train from her village in Punjab, had asked the first lady if American girls struggled like India with the issue of gender preference for men. Michelle replied that things in the US had improved and that there now were as many women in universities as men.