Why would a few tribal people in this corner of the world celebrate the first anniversary of Barack Obama’s presidency?
Well, these are not ordinary tribals; they share the same heritage and lineage with the prez. That’s the reason why the Siddi tribe got together in this town on Thursday to celebrate the anniversary.
Guess what? They even prayed to their tribal goddess to bless the American president with another term in the Oval office.
Tribesmen from Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Belgaum, Dharwad , Ratnagiri, even South Gujarat came together to celebrate the occasion at Haliyal, in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.
Over 2,000 of them converged on the town. “We feel blessed today. After years of subjugation, the world’s largest democracy has somebody as president who we can call our own. President Obama and we share something in common: our African antecedents,” said Diyog Bastayon Siddi, convener of the celebration.
But joy got entangled in red tape. “We had requested the district
administration to give us permission to send a cask of honey produced by our apiculturists deep in the forests of the Sahayadris, to Obama. We had even had made a special cask out of rosewood for carrying the honey to the president, but we were not given permission by the officials. They said nobody could send any food items to Obama.”
Officials in the district administration said the Siddis had indeed asked for permission to send honey to the president.
“It is practically impossible; food items have to be cleared by the diplomatic channels after seeking permission from the foreign country. There is a long procedure to clear anything that is sent to the US president,” an official explained.
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