George W. Bush shakes hands with Chandra as his parents, astronaut Mike Fincke (extreme left) and Renita Saikia-Fincke, look on at the White House

Guwahati, June 19: His father takes pride in introducing himself as ?Assam?s son-in-law?. Once he grows up enough to understand what is a special occasion, three-year-old Chandra will perhaps take pride in introducing himself as ?amongst the few Assamese to shake President Bush?s hand?.

Last week, US President George W. Bush hosted Chandra and his 11-month-old sister Tarali, children of astronaut Mike Fincke and his Assamese wife Renita Saikia, along with their parents and the family of Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. The White House reception was to honour Mike and Gennady for their mission to the International Space Station Alpha, where they spent six months last year.

The star of the reception, however, turned out to be Chandra. ?I am proud to say that our son Chandra may be amongst the first Assamese to shake President Bush?s hand!? Renita, who is a NASA engineer, told The Telegraph over email.

The Fincke kids were quite excited on reaching the White House ?but probably had no idea what an honour it was for the family to be visiting the President of the United States?, Renita wrote.

?Chandra was anxious to get out of his suit jacket and Tarali just wanted to be put down and walk everywhere.?

But by the time Mike, Renita and Chandra were busy posing for photographs with the world?s most powerful political leader, Tarali was fast asleep in her father's arms. ?As we walked up to the President, I apologised for Tarali being asleep, and his comment was ?I guess she must have known I was getting ready to give a speech?,? Renita said.

Bush gave Chandra and Tarali a lapel pin each for their scrapbooks and special coins to the astronauts with the White House emblem on them.

Renita said the President spoke at length about his job, himself and the Oval Office. ?The President said his job was about making decisions. The President was very nice and personable. He spent several minutes telling us some of the history of the Oval Office, like the desk that was used by (former President) John F. Kennedy and the picture of (former President) Abraham Lincoln.?

Tarali was born when Mike was in the space station. In fact, Mike became the first astronaut to become a father while in space. Tarali means starlight in Assamese, while Chandra means moon.

Renita is the daughter of Rupesh and Probha Saikia, who hail from Jorhat in Upper Assam but are now based in Houston, Texas. Mike, 37, met his wife at NASA.