Bhubaneswar, Dec. 14: Nisha Desai Biswal, US assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs, is an active Twitteratti. But her tweet today was different from the usual political stuff - "Very excited for my first visit to Odisha. #OdiyaBahu homecoming!"
The US diplomat had all the reasons to be excited. In her 10 years of marriage with Subrat Biswal of Odia origins, this is her first visit to her sasu ghara (in-laws' house). On her maiden trip to Odisha, her husband, parents-in-law and two daughters Safya, 8, and Kaya, 6, are accompanying her.
"I was waiting for this day for a long time because I visit India for administrative purposes about six or more times a year. I also visit Gujarat once or twice a year, but alone. My husband and I are travelling together to India for the first time," said Nisha.
"My daughters would always insist to come along, but it wasn't possible before. So this trip is really special since as the bahu (bride) I'm here for the first time," she said.
Nisha's parents-in-law, Nilambar and Anu Biswal whose families hail from Angul, had migrated to the US in their youth. But the family is still deeply rooted in Odisha, said Subrat.
"My parents grew up in Bhubaneswar and I have an extended family here. We will be staying at my mausa's place on this trip," said Subrat, who, too, couldn't hide his excitement for being able to make this trip after a couple of years.
While Nisha has picked up some Odia, their daughters can count till 10 in Odia.
"Odia for me is very similar to Gujarati. So, I have no difficulty understanding the language, but when I speak, I end up mingling a lot of Gujarati words," said the diplomat, who could then managed to speak a line in broken Odia.
The family will stay in Bhubaneswar for most of their weeklong trip and also visit Angul and a few other places in the state.
Nisha, who was appointed as assistant secretary of state in November 2013, oversees US foreign policy and relations in regards to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and various south and central Asian countries.
She said that the US would be supportive of the revival of talks between India and Pakistan and added that America was ready to help India and Nepal resolve tricky issues. Nisha also reaffirmed the Barack Obama government's stand against Daesh and terrorism in general.
"US is engaging partners around the world and mostly Muslim majority countries to destroy the capabilities of Daesh (ISIS)," she said.
The Biswals are also active members of the Odisha Society of Americas (OSA). She said that delegates from the state government had met her during OSA's convention last year.
"We discussed US investment in Odisha. It is what I would like to see with the state's tremendous natural resource base and also human resource base. Despite the failure on Posco, Odisha still attracts investment, but there is an urgent need to improve and create an enabling environment for business," said Nisha.
She met chief minister Naveen Patnaik today. He sought better collaboration with the US and wanted to explore partnership in adapting to requirements vis-a-vis issues of climate change.
