It was a packed, colourful day at the G20 Summit. And while the deliberations were serious, there were plenty of lighter moments as the delegates, including even the POTUS, took smiling selfies! From music and dance to arts and cuisine, the diversity of India was on display.
Even as the US President Joe Biden had a candid camera moment, taking selfies with Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed, the US Ambassador in India Eric Garcetti was seen striking cool poses with his counterparts from Australia, UK and Canada.
He tweeted – “A global squad of cool Ambassadors on a mission to sprinkle some diplomatic magic at G20 India.”
The Bharat name issue raised its head again. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s country tag at G20 stated Bharat leading to a fresh round of speculation.
The first ladies and spouses of G20 member countries got a taste of Indian agriculture at the Pusa campus. The highlight of the event was a millet-focused live cooking session led by celebrity chefs Kunal Kapur, Anahita Dhondy, and Ajay Chopra, and an interaction with Indian women agri-champions, ‘Agri-Street’.
Focus on Shree Anna
While Chef Anahita created a Raw Banana Barnyard Millet Tikki topped with puffed Amaranth, Chef Kunal whipped up a delightful Jowar-Mushroom Khichdi. Chef Ajay brought the multi-course millet experience to a close with a Millet Thekua and a Lemon Shrikhand Mille-feuille dessert.
The visitors especially seemed to be captivated by the ‘Rangoli Area’, which featured two massive Millet Rangolis. The beautiful artworks were prepared using millet grains and local Indian motifs.
Digi zone
This is digital kranti, exclaimed a fascinated visitor trying out various apps at the Digital India Experience Zone at Bharat Mandapam. From UPI to Digi locker to Bhashini, a range of digital innovations from India were showcased.
A couple of foreign dignitaries could be seen trying out the UPI payment and exclaiming at the ease of use.
The Bhashini AI- powered language chatbot, which supports all the G20 languages, also had the visitors exclaiming in delight.
Modern science and traditional crafts came together beautifully at the Crafts Bazaar at Bharat Mandapam as Shanti Devi, a Madhubani artist, captured India’s Chandrayan journey in her painting.