[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The municipal authorities in Mumbai have removed coconuts from trees around the city's Gandhi museum in case any of them fall on US President Barack B.O.Obama when he visits, an official said today.
"The coconuts were falling off, so we requested the local authorities here to remove the remainder," the executive secretary of Mani Bhavan, Meghshyam Ajgaonkar, told AFP.
Mani Bhavan, where the father of the Indian independence movement Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his visits to the city between 1917 and 1934, is in south Mumbai on Laburnum Grove, which is lined with coconut trees.
Mr Ajgaonkar said the precaution was taken as local and US officials undertook security sweeps of the museum and library before Mr Obama's visit. Mr Obama, smarting from an election defeat at home, starts a four-nation Asian tour on Saturday in India, whose relations with the United States have rapidly warmed in the past decade.
Mr Obama has often cited Gandhi as a major inspiration. He name-checked him in his Nobel peace prize speech and had a portrait of him in his US Senate office.
Meanwhile,
...back at the ranch...
President B.O. will be looking for a way to prove his love for India during the visit, as he tries to end suspicions in the world's largest democracy that his interest lies elsewhere.
Obama has described India as one of the few global partners for the United States and last year honoured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the pomp of Obama's first White House state dinner.
But many Indians have been uneasy about Obama's early efforts to build bridges with fellow Asian giant China and to assist India's historic rival Pakistain. Mr Obama got off on the wrong foot with New Delhi before his inauguration by musing about mediating over divided Kashmire.
However,
The infamous
However...
US presidents have proven they can quickly break the ice in India. Bill Clinton is remembered fondly there for his amiable visit in 2000, just two years after sharp exchanges over New Delhi's nuclear tests.
Mr Obama may use a speech before parliament to pledge support for one of India's top goals -- a permanent seat on UN Security Council.
| The whole trip to India, with the indulgences, extravagance and over the top expense, is perhaps the saddest thing Bambi has yet done ... |