Michelle Obama shakes it up in India with dance moves, big push for girls' education

NEW DELHI - When President Obama and his wife, Michelle, get into an argument, she makes her husband apologize first, the first lady told a group of low-income Indian schoolgirls, causing them to cheer and roar with glee.

Michelle Obama also told the girls that she likes to exercise because "women have to stay strong."

While President Obama spent Sunday fending off skeptical questions about America's relationship with Pakistan and Monday defending American policies about Kashmir and outsourcing of jobs, his wife has won India's heart.

The first lady - who grew up poor on the south side of Chicago and went on to earn degrees from Princeton and Harvard - played hopscotch with English words chalked on the floor in Mumbai, to stress the importance of literacy and learning in a new global economy.

She showed off impressive hip shaking via Bollywood and traditional Koli dancing at a Diwali party. (Her husband was noticeably less smooth when the first couple danced together with some children in Mumbai on Sunday.)

And she accompanied the group of 15 schoolgirls on a tour of the capital's National Handicrafts and Handloom Museum.

"Dancing Queen rocks India, Michelle Wows with moves on & off floor," was a front-page headline in the Times of India on Monday. Obama also was praised on the fashion pages, with scribes oohing and aahing at how her powder-blue dress and sweater matched the blue turban worn by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

There was much speculation about whether she would don a sari at the state dinner Monday night. She didn't, opting instead for a floor-length, shimmering silver skirt with a metallic, long-sleeved top. Both the top and skirt were designed by Rachael Roy, an Indian-American designer.

In his toast at the state dinner, President Obama paid tribute to his wife's talents after listing some of the "things we have learned on this trip."

"...And we have learned that no matter how hard I try, Michelle will always be a better dancer than I am," the president quipped..

But Michelle Obama arrived in India with a message that goes beyond dancing. She has made education and women's empowerment the focus of her domestic agenda and "has taken that show on the road" when she travels abroad, said a U.S. official.

The first lady's message is particularly powerful in India, where many rural women struggle to be educated and there are enormous obstacles even for a baby girl to be born.

A cultural preference for sons has led to a practice called female infanticide or killing of girls in the womb, a practice that Singh is fighting against with a slew of government programs. School dropout rates for girls - especially those in rural India - are extremely high. Some of the girls Michelle Obama met hailed from a village that doesn't have a school for those past grade 8.

"She is the best role model we could think of," said Ruchira Ghose, who became director of the handicraft museum six months ago and said she hoped Obama's visit will help women textile and craft workers gain notoriety. "She's strong and warm and so successful."

Inside the museum, the first lady held hands with the schoolgirls and smiled at a giant statue of Durga, a powerful Hindu goddess and destroyer of evil.

"Women and power," Obama told the maroon-uniformed girls, who grinned back at her as she pumped both hands in the air. Each girl was given a gift of a soft, black string backpack, emblazoned with the White House emblem and a Nike swoosh and filled with notebooks and crayons.

The who-apologizes-first? question came from Manpreet Kaur, a 14-year-old who traveled by overnight train from her village in Punjab to meet Obama. "She said the president has to say he is sorry first," said Manpreet, sounding both surprised and impressed. Manpreet and the other girls said they were eager to share the information with their own mothers.

Eleven-year-old Aprit Buttar, from the northern state of Rajasthan, told Obama that she knows one girl in her village who had to drop out of school to take care of the house after her father died. She said her own father is a mustard and wheat farmer and her mother never went to school.

Aprit promised to bring a full report on Obama's visit to the boys in her village. She said she would take care to tell them that the first lady of America thinks girls should get a good education. "All the boys were jealous that we were able to meet Mrs. Obama," Aprit said.
Emily Wax Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, November 8, 2010; 12:00 PM
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Do you think that educating girls in India will help make the world a better place? Why or Why not?

Why is it important to the girls that the husband apologizes first?