Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen watch dancers as they appear on Dance Premier League, a reality dance contest show, during a stop at television studios in Mumbai on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.Adrian Wyld
MUMBAI - There had been a speech to business leaders, a visit to a shot-up Jewish cultural centre, where people had died during last year's terrorist attack, and much else besides. But Stephen Harper's visit to Mumbai ended on a singularly spectacular, if not bizarre, note.
The Prime Minister's motorcade of more than two dozen cars cut a swath through the city's evening rush hour -- and it's some rush hour -- en route to RK studios, for a taping of Bollywood song, fusion Mujra dancing (so your correspondent was told) and, well, noise on the set of Dance Premier League, the So You Think You Can Dance of India.
The Prime Minister clapped along, with that typically the-things-I-do fixed grin of his, while Laureen Harper seemed, typically, to be enjoying herself hugely.
"Take me now, Lord," CBC's Terry Milewski said. "I've seen everything"
From the tragic to the ridiculous. This was the Prime Minister's day. But then, we're in India.
(Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
John Ibbitson