Howdy Modi: Festival-like atmosphere at NRG stadium

A festival-like atmosphere pervaded the NRG stadium as thousands of members of the Indian diaspora gathered for the 'Howdy, Modi!' event on Sunday to greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and listen to his address.

Indian men and women dressed in colourful traditional attire hailing from different parts of India, including Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat, were gathering for the three-hour event, which will also see US President Donald Trump share the stage with Modi in a special gesture.

The beating of drums, cheering and shouts of "Modi, Modi" went up from among the crowd. Around 50,000 members of the Indian diaspora are expected to attend the 'Howdy, Modi!' event, for which tickets were sold out many weeks ago.

The event being held at the NRG Football Stadium, one of the largest in the US, has been organised by the Texas India Forum (TIF), a non-profit organisation.

"The energy in the stadium is palpable as the crowd awaits Prime Minister Modi's address," TIF tweeted ahead of the event that has the theme 'Shared Dreams Brighter Futures'.