Beyond bonhomie

The euphoria over U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to India should be seen in a different perspective (“Going beyond bonhomie,” Jan.23). Over the years, India and the U.S. have had different kinds of engagements, and India has had access to potential gains, and sombre disappointments too. There is a plethora of issues and policies in the pipeline, but the real critical aspect lies in making all this turn into reality. To be an ally of a nation like the U.S. needs a lot of trust.

A heartening sign is the endorsement that India is emerging as a potential leader. The real challenge for India ahead of Mr. Obama’s visit is to accelerate this sense of mutual trust and uphold its creative leadership.

Arjun R. Shankar,

Thiruvananthapuram

As the most important factor according to the writer is “dialogue”, it should be used more to fulfil the more important objective of achieving a level of trust between the two leaders. This level of mutual trust should be the main parameter to judge the success of this meet, which is loaded with many expectations. In the past, India’s experience of engagement with the U.S. has not been very fruitful. Therefore, India needs to tread the path very cautiously in the backdrop of warming relations between Russia and China, trouble in West Asia, and other crippling global issues.

Vinay Kant Gautam,Shimla