Nia Meets Secretary Clinton

Secretary Clinton was in Delhi last week and as part of her visit there was a Meet and Greet with her for Embassy families and children. It was at the Ambassador’s residence but due to space constraints they could only admit a limited number of people, so they gave away 250 tickets to the first people that requested them. Nia, Max and I were among the lucky ones that got tickets. Paul also got a ticket but ended up giving it up because he was “working” the Secretary’s visit and couldn’t be at the Meet and Greet.

Meeting the Secretary was a big deal for Nia. Paul and I got to see the Secretary speak at an event at FSI a few months ago and Nia was really bummed out that she couldn’t come. Shortly after that, Nia’s school in Virginia held an event, at which the kids got to pick a famous person, do research on their life and accomplishments, dress up as them and present their story. Nia picked the Secretary. She read a book about her and did a little write-up about the Secretary that she presented on the day of the event. Here’s a picture of Nia as young Hillary earlier this year:

So when we heard that the Secretary was going to do a Meet and Greet we immediately jumped on it. Nia was thrilled! We got her out of school, so she could attend the Meet and Greet. There were a bunch of other kids at the event and the Secretary very graciously spend some time with them and shook hands with as many as she could, including Nia.

Chutney was also there but by the time the Secretary arrived he was in desperate need of a nap and threw a mega tantrum, so I had to step back and calm him down. The Secretary was delayed, which is not at all unusual, and we ended up waiting for 4+ hours for her arrival. Because the space was limited, they didn’t allow strollers and it was a standing-room-only affair, so try as I might I couldn’t get him to nap even though he was very tired. So he was there but didn’t make it in the official pictures. As I was stepping back to calm him down, a very nice stranger lady asked me if I wanted her to take our picture with the Secretary and the Ambassador in the background. I wouldn’t have thought of it otherwise but thanks to her he too has a picture of the event. It’s not a great picture as it is backlit and I look downright scary but I am not complaining. Thank you stranger lady for being so sweet and thoughtful!