Anthony Albanese and Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell view a performance during a Holi celebration.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“This isn’t my first visit to India,” he told the crowd.
“My first was as a young man in 1991,when I caught trains,buses,I hitchhiked — we went through every form of transport possible over a six-week period.
“And it brought to me a love of Indian culture,and an understanding of the way that Indian people embrace and welcome you to this wonderful country.”
Albanese has a crowded agenda of commercial and strategic talks. Regional security is a big part of the agenda,with Australia planning to host military exercises with India,Japan and the US later this year despite objections from China to the “Malabar” exercises in the past.
Anthony Albanese makes a speech during his visit to interview in Ahmedabad.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Albanese is due to go to the Fourth Test in Ahmedabad with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday,where the two leaders will meet the Indian and Australian cricket teams before the first day of play.
Modi,who was chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014,ensured a generous welcome for Albanese with the help of the current chief minister,Bhupendrabhai Patel,who is from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Scores of posters and large billboards with pictures of Modi and Albanese lined the highways around Ahmedabad while the Australian motorcade travelled between the events,with hundreds of soldiers and police stopping traffic so the visitors could pass.
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At the Holi event,however,Albanese remembered travelling through India in a simpler style.
“If you want to understand a country,don’t go in a car with a motorcade,go on a train with the population and buy a ticket at the ticket box – that is a big,big plus,” he said.