Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama can cook ‘keema’ and ‘dal’ – and cook well! He is also a cricket fan – but is terrible with bats!

These little-known secrets about Mr. Obama were revealed during an interview to Pakistan’s Dawn television where he reflected upon his familiarity with South Asian culture.

“As you know, I had Pakistani roommates in college who were very close friends of mine. I went to visit them when I was still in college… [I] was in Karachi and went to Hyderabad. Their mothers taught me to cook,” Mr. Obama said.

When asked what he could cook, Mr. Obama said, “‘keema’ and ‘dal’ ...You name it, I can cook it.”

The President also revealed that he admires great cricket players, but doesn’t know how to bat despite having made several attempts.

“You know, I have to say that I have tried to get up to bat a couple of times, but I’ve been terrible,” Mr. Obama said replying to a question.

“I have a great affinity for Pakistani culture and the great Urdu poets. My hope is that I’m going to have an opportunity at some point to visit Pakistan,” he said.

One of the things that tied the two countries together, he felt, was the “extraordinary Pakistani-American community here in the U.S. who are thriving and doing great work as physicians and as lawyers and as business people.”

He said one of the great opportunities for the country is to be able to draw on all this talent to help provide concrete benefits to the Pakistani people.

“We want to be a partner in opening up trade opportunities, but making sure that people on the ground …are getting education, children are going to school, farmers are able to get a decent compensation for their products, electricity and infrastructure is built, because I know the Pakistani people and I know that if the tools are made available to them, then they will thrive and continue to be a great nation,” Mr. Obama said. — PTI

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