Pinki meets PM's wife, gets her blessings

Pinki Sonkar, the child protagonist of Oscar-winning documentary Smile Pinki, on Friday, met prime minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur, who showered her with gifts.

The nine-year-old village girl from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, who shot to international fame post the Oscar glory with her story, said she was pleased after the meeting and showed her watch, a gift from Kaur.

"We were to meet the prime minister but unfortunately he is down with viral flu. So he has been advised not to meet outsiders. But we met Gurusharan Kaurji, who gave Pinki gifts and her blessings," said Satish Kalra, regional director of Smile Train, the NGO that funded Pinki's surgery and visit to Los Angeles for the Academy Awards ceremony.

Pinki was accompanied with her father Rajendra Sonkar, her surgeon Dr Subodh Singh and Kalra.

"She gave Pinki her blessings. We had not gone there with any such agenda," said Kalra when asked whether the prime minister had promised any monetary assistance to the girl.

Pinki, who suffered from cleft-lip, got a new lease of life after a small surgery. Her story featured in the Oscar-winning 40-minute documentary by American filmmaker Megan Mylan.