N.Y. Governor George Pataki, center, with Danny Gaekwad, left, and his son. (Photo: Courtesy, Danny Gaekwad)

It was not just the grown-ups that enjoyed President George W. Bush’s Inauguration on Jan. 20. Kunal Gaekwad (10) was the only kid at the exclusive candlelight dinner at the Washington Hilton hosted by the President and Vice President and attended by about 500 people.

There with his father, hotelier Danny Gaekwad of Ocala, Fla., Kunal went around shaking hands with governors and senators, going quite close to take a picture of the President and Mrs. Bush, all meat for his school journal that his teacher said he must keep.

Dr. Raghavendra Vijayanagar. (File Photo)

“My son had the biggest thrill of his life ––– meeting with Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado, and Attorney General of Florida Charlie Crist. He got to shake hands and take pictures with Gov. Pataki and Bobby Jindal, and Gov. Bob Beauprez. The reason I enjoyed it was because my son enjoyed it so much,” said Danny who could not bring his wife because his other son was having Grade 7 exams back home.

For Danny Gaekwad, the President’s inaugural speech was “very confident and the message was very simple.”

According to him, “the President was just reinforcing what he had been saying from day one. And he always says what he feels, like he speaks from his heart. He does not do it for political reasons. He doesn’t need votes anymore.”

Kunal and Danny were in front of the podium from where the President delivered his speech.

“Suddenly, there was a guy protesting behind us –– he came out with a banner and began shouting. Some people threw water and soda pop on him and told him to go get a life, that it was the President’s day. Kunal had a blast with all the photographers running to get a shot. I carried my son on my shoulders to raise him up to see all that hullabaloo.”

Danny and Kunal went to the Liberty Ball for Floridians, the Western Civilization Ball, and checked in some others because they were all at the Convention Center. You did not have to go out in the cold.

“I think my son felt very special and said, ‘I want to be a politician too,’ and that made me feel he was inspired,” said the proud father who describes himself as a political junky, a political science major whose family’s participation in politics reaches beyond the Indian freedom struggle.

Danny is financial chair for Florida State Rep. Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala), he is also Planning and Zoning Commissioner for Ocala, Fl., a 300,000 population city; as well as on the Zoning Commission for Marion County. “I get involved in each and every race from down up.” He was just appointed on the Marion County Sheriff’s Advisory Committee.

For Dr. Raghavendra Vijayanagar, also from Florida, the inauguration was not as big a deal, though he admired the President’s speech.

“This was my 3rd inauguration and all of them with the Bushes. Papa Bush’s was the best inauguration in 1989. Very well organized. The parade was beautiful and security was not all over you. Even the Inaugural Ball was not huge like now. I enjoyed that one very much,” Dr. Vijayanagar, chair of the Indian American Republican Council, told News India-Times. “With the son, the first inauguration was so-so because of the horrible weather and I couldn’t even get into the swearing in,” he said about 2000. “This time it was pretty good, but weather was very cold. I got very good seats in front of the podium that Senator Bill Frist had given me.” He went to the Liberty Ball which, “I didn’t enjoy very much. You had to buy the drinks and the food wasn’t all that good. And the President came early. He’s not a partying kind of guy, dancing the night away. We (my wife and friends) left after the President left.”

But he was all praise for the President’s speech and believes he is a candidate for the Nobel Prize. “Look at Afghanistan where women are now voting and getting education and a totalitarian government has been abolished. Then Iraq has been surprising. That is going to have a phenomenal impact in the Middle East. Palestine elections. Everything is going for the President.”

Dr. Vijayanagar is already looking to the future. This Feb. 6, he and some friends are having Senator Frist over for a brunch before they all go to the Super Bowl.

“It’s just getting an informal get-together ––– to discuss his trip to India, to Bandah-Aceh in Indonesia,” Dr. Vijayanagar said. “He (Frist) told me at the inauguration that he had a wonderful trip to India and would like to talk to me about it.”

Sen. Frist’s name has been mentioned along with several others, as a possible candidate for the 2008 Presidential race, but Dr. Vijayanagar says, “Whenever I ask him about that he says he has a good job as a Senate Majority Leader to carry out the President’s agenda and that he had anyway announced he would be a two-term Senator. He doesn’t say he will not run,” Vijayanagar conceded.