Modi-ji,
the prime minister of India, came to Banaras and our group (Jenny and Stephen
not included – they were asleep) got to see him! We woke up super early and
walked down to Assi Ghat (where Modi-ji was going to be to bathe in Ganga-ji)
and sweet talked the guards into letting us into the press area/private area.
We were the only white people there, lol (also, #winning?). Anyway, while we
were there about 6 different TV/news stations came and interviewed us in
Hinglish and we made it into the newspaper/on TV!!! Unfortunately, much of our
Hindi skills escaped us as soon as the camera was pointing at our faces, but it
was fun practicing our Hindi on low-ranking Banaras officials in the private
area and making conversation in Hindi with random military men (there were
probably as many military personnel at Assi Ghat as there were spectators). The
closest we could get to Modi-ji was only about 50 ft away and that was while he
was getting shooed into his car by the Indian equivalent of the Secret Service.
I have tons of pictures and videos from the event that I’ll post, but it was
really cool to be able to see him in the flesh.
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