Modi to give Xi an Ahmedavadi welcome

In a dramatic break from protocol, Prime Minister Modi will welcome President Xi Jiping at Ahmedabad airport.

Ahmedabad is all set to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 64th birthday.

While the city and state government is all set to welcome President Xi, Modi has done all the planning himself. The Gujarat government announced that three senior ministers -- Nitin Patel, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Saurabh Patel -- will look after Xi at various venues.

Modi plans to seek his mother Heeraba's blessings at Gandhinagar before Xi arrives.

In a dramatic break from protocol, Modi will welcome President Xi at Ahmedabad airport.

Xi and Modi will visit Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram. Minister Chudasama will be present.

XI's next stop will be the newly-built Hyatt hotel in Vastrapur. Here Xi and Modi will be present at an MoU signing ceremony between the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Guangdong province. Gujarat Finance Minister Saurabh Patel will ensure that all is well at the hotel. The lunch at the Hyatt will be the famed Gujarati thali.

Modi will take Xi on a stroll along one of his favourite projects -- the Sabarmati river front. The dried up river does not have its own water, but Modi diverted the Narmada waters in the short patch where the river flows along the city.

The city's garbage dumps and road blocks are being removed for Xi's visit.

Image: Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in Brazil in July.

• Send Prime Minister Modi a birthday card!