New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today presented his British counterpart David Cameron a specially handcrafted pair of bookends made of wood, marble and silver.
The centerpiece of each of these bookends is a silver bell, an object of rich symbolism relating to inner wisdom and tidings, which has a verse from the Bhagavad Gita etched in Sanskrit, along with its English meaning along the inside rim.
Taken from Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita, these verses (15-16) describe the ultimate underlying reality. Each bell has one verse etched on it.
In addition, in view of Cameron's fondness for Robert Graves' work on World War I Goodbye to All That, the Prime Minister also presented to him David Omissi's Indian Voices of the Great War.
For the First Lady, the Prime Minister presented Aranmula metal mirror, a unique GI protected handicraft from Kerala, and some pashmina stoles.