So, President Obama is coming to town. And how!
Over the past 24 hours, the nation has been treated to a blitz of fawning headlines and breathless commentary about how, thanks to Narendra Modi's "out of the box thinking" and "unconventional diplomacy", a US President would be attending the R-Day celebrations for the first time.
In its excitement to play up the event ("unprecedented", "momentous", "unthinkable") the media has not allowed facts to come in the way resulting in a deluge of half-baked theories, absurd analysis and disputed claims.
Thus, we are told, that India owes it to "Modiplomacy" that it will have the privilege of hosting Obama twice (his first visit was in 2010). But it has been reported that a second visit was always on the cards. Only dates were to be decided. That visit will now happen on 26 January.
What is surprising (or perhaps it isn't in a climate where it has become de rigueur to hail anything Modi does) that even otherwise sober and knowledgeable commentators have gone over the top in attempting to build up an event which ultimately is simply a ceremonial. Yes, a grand ceremonial with a lot of symbolism. But stripped of its official trappings the R-Day parade is still only pageantry.
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