Have you seen Dr Singh smile so much?

At the airport, the American leader gave the usually touch averse Dr Singh an affectionate hug. Michelle Obama kissed Dr S on his cheeks!

On Monday morning we spotted Gursharan Kaur -- who, we understand, is friendly and talkative -- animatedly point out something to her husband at Rashtrapati Bhavan, minutes before the Obamas arrived.

Not one emotion registered on Dr S's face. It was as if his wife had not spoken.

In Parliament, his impassive demeanour stonewalls the most abrasive discussions.

Be it over the India-US nuclear deal or Opposition anger over the Sharm-el-Sheikh statement or price rise, Dr Singh remains, well, expressionless.

Dr Singh liked President George W Bush a great deal, and the sentiment was amply reciprocated.

We Indians scoff at Dr Singh for being a silent proxy for Sonia Gandhi, but we do the man injustice.

India's rise that Obama spoke about so often on this visit was largely crafted by Dr Singh and his political mentor, then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.

Next year, the economic reforms, the end of India's license raj, the birth of liberalisation, which Messrs Rao and Singh conceived and pushed through, will celebrate its 20th anniversary.

As prime minister, Dr Singh has been Arjuna-like, focused on the double digit growth, which, he believes, will one day usher millions of Indians out of a life of poverty.

As one Rediff.com editor, no admirer of Dr Singh, pointed out recently, "He reads, he takes his own decisions... See him as a weak-looking man with an iron will.... Clinton, Blair, Sarkozy, even Putin, didn't work as much as this man."

K Subrahamanyam, the doyen of India's strategic thinkers, described Obama on Monday morning as a leader cast in the mould of the legendary FDR, who led America out of the economic depression of the 1930s, and helped Churchill win the war against Hitler.

Barack Obama is clearly a brilliant mind, even better we dare say than the husband of his secretary of state.

The admiration Obama has for Dr Singh's clarity of vision and economic sagacity has now clearly grown into deep affection that also extends to their wives.

Paresh Gandhi, Rediff.com's Chief Photographer in New York, photographed Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who was clearly in awe of Dr Singh.

Zardari asked Dr S 'Can I hug you?', before giving him a warm hug.

Photographers, who missed the photo-op, wanted Zardari to hug Dr Singh again.

The usually garrulous Mr Z rejected the idea, saying, 'He will be offended.'