A Nobel ceremony: Abhijit, wife Esther woo netizens in ethnic wear
Stockholm: Indian-American economist Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, and his French-American wife Esther Duflo were conferred the Nobel Prize for Economics in Sweden here, alongside their American colleague Michael Kremer.
Unlike other laureates, who arrived in tuxedos and fancy Red Carpet dresses, the couple glorified the prestigious occasion in traditional Indian attire.
Abhijit wore a black bandhgala jacket paired with an off-white dhoti, and wife Esther wore a blue, two-toned saree, while Michael Kremer was spotted wearing a black suit.
‘The Nobel Prize’ tweeted “Watch Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer receive their medals and diplomas at the #NobelPrize award ceremony today. Congratulations!
They were awarded the 2019 Prize in Economic Sciences “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”
The Twitter post was flooded with comments and congratulatory wishes from across the world, with 1.4K retweets and 3.6K likes.
The three economists were awarded medals and the prize money of nine million Swedish krona (approx Rs 6.7 crore), which will be shared among them.
As “#AbhijitBanerjee” trends on Twitter, tweeple are praising the couple’s attire, saying “Moment of pride for Indians as Abhijeet Banerjee and his wife received biggest prize in the world… wearing Indian attire is icing on cake”.
While another wrote: “We live in an era where people are banning movies and pre wedding shootings for cultural in-approproation , whereas progressive Indians like #AbhijitBanerjee and her better half are showing the world what Indian culture is. Thank you for making us proud sir.”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Banerjee, an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Calcutta, is the second person of Indian Origin to be awarded the prize after Amartya Sen who received it in 1988.
He is the 10th person of Indian origin or citizenship to win a Nobel.