Sept 14 is PM's US walkathon

Sept 14 is PM's US walkathon
CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

WASHINGTON, SEPT 3: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to the United States will be uphill in only one respect - his visit to the seat of the US legislature that goes by the name Capitol Hill.

Of the ten days he will be in the US, September 14, the day he goes to the Hill, will be the most strenuous and involve the most physical activity.

After arriving from New York on the evening of September 13, the Prime Minister will go to Capitol Hill the next morning for his address to the joint session of Congress at 10 am in a hall known as the great chamber, which is on the House side of the imposing building.

He will then meet the House International Relations Committee on the House side, before moving to the Senate side to meet the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A car will be used for this leg even though the two committee rooms are close by.

He will then attend a lunch hosted by the India Caucus and also meet with the House leadership, including Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Some of these engagements will take him across the vast building, will involve considerable walking, and some climbing up and down. One possibility to minimise the walking is to use a golf-cart like buggy, although sources say it's the climbing and not "flat walking" that is a problem.

The Indian officialdom is so exercised over the state of the Prime Ministerial knee that Anoop Mishra, one of the Prime Minister's physicians, and an aide are already here measuring the paces on the Hill with Taranjit Singh, the embassy staffer who handles legislative affairs.

Before he arrives in Washington, the Prime Minister will have his knees examined in New York by orthopaedist Dr A Ranawath. Vajpayee can also exchange notes about his knees with President Clinton, who dislocated his own knee some two years back during a golf outing.