Narendra Modi to have water and a plate full of hope

When prime minister Narendra Modi visited Tokyo, his counterpart there Shinzo Abe served him Japanese tea at a "chai pe charcha".

In Washington, a proposal for a chat over chai was being considered, but Modi would sip only water. He is observing a nine-day navratri fast which begins on Thursday.

Modi's childhood as a "chai wala" had sent ripples among Indian Americans spurring them to launch a "chai pe charcha" campaign in the US ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Whether there will be a chat over tea or not when he is in Washington, the US is likely to try and restore warmth with a leader who was denied visa for several years.

Modi is likely to stick to his Navratri diet of water, a ritual he has been practicing for over three decades, also during hosted by president Barack Obama on September 29.

On September 30 morning, he will be meeting Obama for the second time.

On the menu are likely to be big ticket announcements coming during prime minister's visit would be merging OCI (overseas citizen of India) and PIO (persons of Indian origin) cards and visa-on-arrival (VoA) for the US citizens who want to avail facility of tourist visa. While the proposal to merge the OCI and PIO cards is ready, officials of ministry of home affairs and tourism were attempting to remove last minute glitches in the proposal of VoA.

The US houses the largest number of Indians anywhere in the world comprising 2.81 million people, around 1% of the country's population, the country's third largest self-reported Asian ancestry group after Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans, according to American Community Survey of 2010 data.

The VoA announcement is also expected when Modi addresses American citizens. According to the scheme visa can be granted to US citizens who do not have a residence or occupation in India and whose sole objective of visiting India would be recreation, sightseeing, casual visit to meet friends and relatives.

Under the new proposal, which is still being worked out, the stay limit is expected to be 30 days.

The facility is currently available for citizens of 11 countries –Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea.

However, despite being strategic partners, there is no VoA facility for the citizens of India and the US in each other's country.

As per some estimates, the annual flow of US tourists stand around 10 lakh, currently.