When consul general's wife greeted Diwali guests in gibberish

New York, Oct 28 (IANS) The Indian consul general here hosted a Diwali reception to revive the tradition after a few years' gap - and had his wife greet the gathering in gibberish, much to the delight of the guests.

In a brief and entertaining interlude, Consul General Prabhu Dayal 'translated' into English his wife Chandini's speech, delivered with a straight face in gibberish.

This was actually a ploy, meant to climax in a trick played on the over 200-strong audience of Indian American community leaders.

'My wife, when blindfolded, has the ability to identify objects,' Dayal announced and had everybody's attention in the hall.

Chandini was duly blindfolded and one from the audience, hotelier Sant Chatwal, held aloft his cellphone. Chandini said something in gibberish. The consul general 'translated' it as 'Cellphone'! Everybody got the joke and laughed.

Dayal, who took over as consul general six weeks ago, has a refreshing style of functioning and reaching out to the community, a spokeswoman for the consulate told IANS.

'Not only Diwali, he plans to celebrate many other Indian festivals too at the consulate,' she said.

New York councilman from Queens borough, John Liu, also wished 'Happy Diwali' to the Indian community.

Spotted among the audience was Indian member of Parliament Rajeev Shukla, in town as part of Indian MPs' delegation to the UN.