Power visit

Despite the hype, it is widely agreed that MTV Coke Studio India, Coca Cola’s music collaboration with music channel MTV, has been unable to outclass its Pakistani counterpart in terms of quality. Which is probably why it was surprising to see Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State under President Clinton, sitting on a plush front-row couch along with Delhi’s rich and famous at the launch of this year’s edition, MTV Coke Studio 2. Albright once famously described Pakistan as an “international migraine”, so her presence at the Indian event was almost ironical. How did Albright, who remained expressionless throughout the programme, come to attend the event in the first place? Sources said she was on an independent visit to India; the event, sponsored by one of America’s most iconic global corporations, merely coincided with that.