Two Days in the Hot Seat

I was pleased to be invited to present and participate in a two-day National Seminar on India-US Relations, hosted by JNU and Delhi U. Little did I know that I would be the only American presenter and participant! Well, that's a slight exaggeration. The keynote speaker (15 minutes, speaking and gone) was a US Embassy official, as was the moderator of my panel. They, however were not in the Hot Seat!

As the only American face in the audience, each speaker gradually shifted his body angle, gaze, and gestures entirely in my direction. It was as if each speaker felt compelled to address me directly as the sole representative of 300 million Americans. The man sitting behind me on the first day wore a t-shirt picturing "George W. Bush: International War Criminal. Dangerous: Armed with Nuclear Weapons." A man also asked one presenter on the first day "Can we really believe that the U.S. is fighting a war against terror? They ignored our cries for help against terrorists here and never joined the war against terror until they were attacked! They never even joined WWI or WWII until they were attacked!" You'd better believe I cornered that man the minute the session ended and demanded that he answer for his outlandish statements. He was very sheepish looking when I indicated that I meant to speak to him (a "Who Me??" look on his face). I definitely did my diplomatic-but-incensed best to call him on the carpet.

The second day, I was a presenter. On my panel, even my fellow speakers gradually angled their presentations and eye contact towards me, as if addressing me alone instead of the auditorium full of listeners. After my presentation, my questioners asked if Americans weren't hypocritical for saying that they opposed the war but then re-elected Bush, if we weren't ethnocentric for believing that we were superior to all other nations in the post-Cold War era, and weren't we concerned about squelching India's culture with our bombardment of media, entertainment, and sports? Wouldn't you call that the HOT SEAT??

Finally, in one of the afternoon sessions, one speaker went to so far as to qualify one of her statements by looking right at me and addressing me as "M'um." There was no doubt that she was addressing her whole speech towards me and me alone. I was certainly ready to be out of the spotlight (interrogation lights??) by the end of the day.

I must say that in general, the Indians are very gracious in these settings. Each keynoter received a bouquet of flowers and a golden Buddha in an acrylic box. And every presenter began his speech with "Respected Chairman, Esteemed Panelists, Dear Colleagues: ... ." I'm not sure sure that I fell into the category of a "dear colleague" at this particular conference!

I will just make sure that the next time I agree to participate in any type of conference, I will not be the only American in the hot seat!

F.