Dancing Payal surprises Abdullah

JAMMU - Perhaps for the first time in public, Payal Abdullah, wife of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, joined in a traditional Kashmiri dance at a police function in Jammu Sunday, something that surprised and pleased everyone including her husband.

A group of dancers, singing Rauf - a traditional Kashmiri song and dance in which the womenfolk step forward and sing in unison - spotted Payal Abdullah and one dancer extended a hand to her. Without hesitation she joined the group.

She was guided in her steps while she kept on smiling all the while. The sight of the chief minister’s wife joining the dance was cheered by the people who had gathered for the inauguration of the police-public fair, including her husband Omar Abdullah.

While her father-in-law Farooq Abdullah, union minister for new and renewable energy, is known for his singing and dancing at public functions, Omar, his son, is a shy person.

It was a great gesture by her, commented one of the dancers in the group.