Americans in Delhi rejoice

Most Americans in the Capital are celebrating Barrack Obama’s victory, report Tushar Srivastava & Tanya Ashreena.

“Oh my God, you won’t believe how happy I am. When I heard, I was in tears,” said Ayona Laris, a teacher at the American Embassy School in Chanakyapuri.

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Most Americans in the Capital are celebrating Barrack Obama’s victory. “Most of my friends and I voted for Obama in the mock US elections conducted at our school,” said Mohini Narsimhan, a 12 year-old Indian American.

“The main factor in the decision was that most of us are against the war in Iraq, and the Democrats have a strong stand on this issue,” she added.

Her mother, Vidya, who retains an Indian passport said her husband and Mohini, both American passport-holders, supported Obama for various reasons, his ethnic background being one of them. “If you come from an ethnic minority in the US, you tend to support others from a minority background. It ultimately helps your community too,” she said.

New voter, 18 year-old Lorana Mitchell, sporting an Obama T-shirt said, “His diverse ethnicity makes him worldly wise and tolerant.” She ruled out Obama’s stand on outsourcing was detrimental to India, “The Indian economy is growing for reason besides outsourcing,” she said.

At the American Centre, Obama’s acceptance speech was greeted with loud cheers, claps and whistles.

Robert Dejonckhere had tears in his eyes by the time Obama completed his speech. “For all of us who have been supporting Obama this is a recognition of his ability to bring us together as Americans,” he said.

“Obama is not just an African-American. He has lived in Indonesia, has white relatives… he is a blended citizen of the world, this election marks a new era for the US,” said Carola Evans.

“I just wanted to be part of this historic moment. Obama’s victory shows that Americans are looking for people with strong policies,” said Adam J Grotsky, Executive Director, United States – India Education Foundation.