A Bottle of Honey for Our Brother Prez

The Siddi tribals of Karnataka believe Barack Obama shares their gene pool. He is one of them

The Siddi tribals, who arrived from African shores centuries ago and now populate parts of Karnataka, have renewed efforts to send a bottle of honey they collected from the forests to US President Barack Obama. This community of forest settlers believes Obama shares their gene pool. They are thrilled to bits that he is coming to India, and don’t want to miss the opportunity this time. “We have approached both External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who is from Karnataka, and the US consulate in Chennai to help us present a bottle of honey and a citation to the President. I hope we succeed at least this time,’’ says Diog Siddi, an elder fighting for Siddi rights.

Barack ObamaKarnatakaSiddi