Often compared to John F. Kennedy for his looks and his charm, lawyer-turned-politician, Senator John Edwards, was in the capital recently for a power-packed leadership summit. A self-confessed Indophile, the erstwhile candidate for the American vice-presidency speaks to Suhel Seth about India's importance in the contemporary globalisation progress, even as he defends his well-chronicled outbursts against outsourcing to the subcontinent

It is critical for India to understand our perspective. Our call was not for banning outsourcing: it was a call to awaken administrations and fellow Americans to realise that we needed to do some introspection and hard work of our own.

Life has very little choices, when at 45, you have already run for the American vice-presidency and are either waiting your turn in the White House or are busy setting up swivel doors for international diplomacy. And Senator John Edwards who was a very successful lawyer and that too, one who won huge compensations from large corporations, is today as calm as a Buddhist priest. For him, the focus is to address issues relating to poverty, to see that the divide - between those who have and those who don't - diminishes with alacrity.

India is a magnet for most global leaders, be they in the realm of business or real-politik. Edwards is no different. He claims to have been an Indophile for as long as he can remember. "I am fascinated by what this country has in terms of history and how it is at the centre of global progress today. I admire what the Indians have achieved in the areas of technology as also their contributions to world peace. India was always a mystery that I was waiting to unravel," he says.

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