MODI MANIA
Indian prime minister gets a Toronto welcome worthy of a Bollywood idol
Prakruti Gajera, 12, was at the Ricoh Coliseum to see Narendra Modi, India’s superstar prime minster, “because he’s cool.”
There were some10,000 people in attendance on Wednesday, and probably just as many reasons for being there, but Gajera’s explanation went some way toward synthesizing the prevailing mood: the charismatic, controversial Indian leader, who was swept to power last year promising economic revival, is a sensation, and he elicits the kinds of reactions from the global Indian diaspora that you might expect from a Bollywood heartthrob. Toronto did not break the pattern. The city’s Indo-Canadian community flocked to the Exhibition grounds to take in the first bilateral visit to Canada by an Indian prime minister in 42 years. Meera Anand came from Woodbridge and expressed her adulation with a bristol-board sign and an acrostic in black marker: “Magnificent, Outstanding, Dynamic, Iconic.”
“I think he’s the icon representing the free democratic world,” she said.
Outside the stadium, empty-handed Modi fans tried to scrounge tickets right up till the last minute, desperate to see their political hero.
“We’re trying our level best,” said Manish Verma, a 26-year-old software developer, as he paced the paved concourse outside the Coliseum.
“He’s such an inspirational person — so energetic. His focus is on development and nothing else. That’s what a country wants.” MANISH VERMA SOFTWARE DEVELOPER, 26
OTTAWA— An ancient Indian statue that turned up in Canada four years ago after it mysteriously vanished is being returned to the country of its origin.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, with the so-called “Parrot Lady” sculpture during an event Wednesday on Parliament Hill.
The red sandstone statue, believed to be 900 years old, depicts a dancing woman with a parrot resting on her head. The woman is meant to be seen as a “naayika” — Hindi for heroine — while the bird is her friend or confidante.
The pair shook hands as Harper declared his delight at being able to return the statute to its “rightful owner.” Harper also presented Modi with a plaque to commemorate its return.
Modi expressed his gratitude, noting through an interpreter that the statue was being returned “with respect and love.”
It’s not precisely clear when it went missing from one of the several Khajuraho temples, a UNESCO World Heritage site, located near the town of Khajuraho in central India.
Images of naayikas are commonly seen in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples.
Cultural relations between Canada and India have deepened as a result of the statue’s return, Modi said.
So common are such depictions in the Khajuraho temples, India did not even realize the statue had gone missing at all until they were notified in 2011that it had turned up on Canadian soil.
Even then, it wasn’t until experts from the Archaeological Survey of India got involved that the statue’s origins could be confirmed.
The two countries were able to exchange the sculpture despite India’s lack of proper ownership papers, because both are signatories to a UN convention that allows the return of cultural property.
“Canada is pleased to return this antiquity to the government of the Republic of India,” said a Canadian Heritage spokesman, Charles Cardinal.
“This is the first return of cultural property to India by the government of Canada. It is an example of the successful co-operation of government departments and agencies working together to enforce the Cultural Property Export and Import Act.
“This return demonstrates Canada’s ongoing commitment to prevent the illicit traffic of cultural property and to recover illegally imported goods.”