HILLARY CLINTON , who could have been President of the US, was in Calcutta in May 2012 and had spent some time at the Victoria Memorial Hall. Swapan Chakravorty, distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Presidency University, was then director-general of National Library and held additional charge of Victoria Memorial as its secretary and curator.

Chakravorty on his meeting with Clinton and the far-reaching consequences of her defeat.

Hillary Clinton's visit was announced in 2012. She was then US secretary of state. She was visiting India and Calcutta was on her itinerary. She had also met the chief minister.

One of the most visible points of her trip was her visit to Victoria Memorial on May 6. There were several rounds of visits from American consulate officials before. To our untrained eyes the security seemed overdone.

She had come as a visitor. There were no Indian bureaucrats, but ambassador Nancy Powell and a huge number of security persons in black. A photographers' corner had been created. They were not allowed to come anywhere near. Calcutta police had also done a thorough recce.

The lady walked up the stairs jauntily in a pant suit. I asked her if she used the lift. She said she never did, if she could help it.

She looked around everything. An exhibition of Gaganendranath Tagore's paintings was going on at the Portrait Gallery. The pictures were on loan from Rabindra Bharati Society. I tried to explain who Gaganendranath was, the western influence on his work, and that his branch of the Tagore family was not Brahmo. She had done her homework. She knew about the Brahmos and Vaishnavas. Chaitanya was an important subject of Gaganendranath's work.

She asked me where I studied, adding my English was different. I said I had gone to Oxford. She said, "So you are one of those..." I was wondering what it meant when she said, "You are one of those who didn't stay back".

After her visit was over, and people were jostling around her, she posed on the stairs for photographs with everyone. After her trip she wrote me a nice card saying how much she had enjoyed the visit, signed Hillary. She could be charming and informal.

The results of the US elections have been disappointing. A person who has risked the anger of the entire world committed to the values of intercultural dialogue becomes the President of the most powerful country of the planet. Democrats may not be doing a great job. But a person who believes that climate change is a Chinese hoax may undo a lot of good work.

It is a mistake to homogenise America. The sort of questions to ask, for instance, would be: 'Would it now be possible for local resistance to deter a developer who is destroying the biodiversity of an area?' That is where the strength of US democracy lies, not its state policies.

The merchants of hatred who created xenophobia post 9/11 have won the war.