For the fourth consecutive year, our Embassy has taken part in the Embassy Open House in collaboration with the Passport DC, a renowned cultural organization based in this part of the USA. I find it a very fascinating idea which brings in a great opportunity to the otherwise preoccupied DC dwellers to be acquainted with the diverse cultural treasures of the world in a relatively short time. Virtually, this is ‘round several countries in just a few hours’! People in their thousands ignored the weather’s betrayal and thronged in the embassies located in and around the International Drive and Mass Ave. The food court and other stalls selling various merchandises took me to Sorojini Naidu :
What do you sell O ye merchants?/Richly your wares are displayed/Turbans of crimson and silver/Tunics of purple brocade/Mirrors with panels of amber/Daggers with handles of jade...What do you weigh, O ye vendors?/Saffron and lentil and rice/What do you grind, O ye maidens?Sandalwood, henna, and spice.. (In the Bazaars of Hyderabad)
In the late hours I had a glance of the arrangements in Ethiopian, Egyptian, Nigerian and Pakistani embassies. For most of the Embassies this is beyond the routine business of the month but thanks to the dedication of the embassy staffs and their families, it very much finds the grandeur of an annual festival!
A great number of the foreign visitors were appreciative of our decorations, not a gaudy display, and foods. The appreciation was not essentially the hallmark of a typically sober DC-ite. I had the occasion to overhear foreigners praising our efforts while they had been in the territories of other participating embassies . Certainly we become elated at such an honest endorsement of our ‘soft power’ by a genuinely international jury!
Hope our future Open Houses would come with more festivities for us. Rather than an extra routine burden let it be our much awaited yearly festival!
