This little rascal calls me all day long, he goes around, around, around me.

Fortunately, a free press, an independent judiciary, and a contentious legislature helped to bring such practices into public debate.

But Obama who had displayed a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi in his Senate office, carried a locket of the Hindu god Hanuman, and spoke often of his desire to build a close strategic partnership with India struck the right symbolic chords in New Delhi and won over the fractious parliament.

On the contrary, it imposed a cost by appearing stubbornly truculent, India allowed Pakistan to appear reasonable and conciliatory, tarnishing India s international image as a constructive force for peace.