Cultural Feast Planned for Obama in India

New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS) Aiming to present the "uniqueness" of India's culture, art and tradition , a cultural festival has been organised for US President Barack Obama at Rashtrapati Bhavan here Sunday.

Obama is slated to arrive with his wife Michelle in the capital Sunday for a three-day state visit, a day ahead of the country's Republic Day.

The cultural programme for him has been put together by cultural organisation SEHER.

"India is particularly blessed by magnificent and legendary diversity of culture and languages. This makes India virtually unique. It is this uniqueness that we wish to present for the visiting dignitaries on this historic visit to India,” said Sanjeev Bhargava, founder-director of SEHER, in a statement.

Obama is the first US president to visit India twice during his tenure with the first trip in 2010. SEHER organised a cultural show for Obama in 2010 as well.

This time the presentation will begin with an invocation from ancient Rig Veda, which will be followed by short presentations in each style with dancers coming together for a rhythmic finale.

The programme will showcase five forms of Indian classical dances -- Kathak, Manipuri, Odissi, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali.

The dance performance, which is choreographed by dancer Madhavi Mudgal, will be performed by young and talented dancers.