Nisha Biswal (Right)

WASHINGTON:Talk about a really awkward ''oops'' moment.A freshman American lawmaker mistook two senior US officials of Indian origin to be Indian government representatives at a Congressional hearing earlier this week, leading to some mirth and a bit of ridicule about American insularity and ignorance.The faux pas occurred during a House sub-committee hearing on US-India relations ahead of major bilateral visits over the next few weeks, starting with Secretary of State John Kerry ’s trip to New Delhi next week. Minnow Congressman Clay Clawson , a newly elected Republican from Florida, while addressing Nisha Biswal and Arun Kumar, two Obama administration officials who were testifying before the panel, kept referring to ''your country'' and ''your government.''"I'm familiar with your country; I love your country,'' Clawson said earnestly, eager to show-off his knowledge of Bollywood and the Indian IT industry. ''Anything I can do to make the relationship with India better, I'm willing and enthusiastic about doing so.''But apparently, he was misled by the names and skin color of Biswal and Kumar into thinking they were Government of India representatives.Amid bemused looks from the officials and several others at the hearing, Clawson asked the officials if ''their'' government could loosen restrictions on US capital investments in India. ''Just as your capital is welcome here to produce good-paying jobs in the US, I'd like our capital to be welcome there,'' he said. ''I ask cooperation and commitment and priority from your government in so doing. Can I have that?''By then, Biswal had realized his gaffe and recovered sufficiently to gently tell him, ''I think your question is to the Indian government…We certainly share your sentiment, and we certainly will advocate that on behalf of the US.''At least one other lawmaker, Congressman Eliot Engel, the full panel's ranking Democrat, realized his junior colleague’s mistake and tried tactfully to cover up for it, thanking both Biswal and Kumar ''for your service to our country.''Clawson, a former basketball player who won a special election last month to replace Trey Radel, who resigned following a cocaine bust, later apologized for his gaffe. ''I made a mistake in speaking before being fully briefed and I apologize. I’m a quick study, but in this case I shot an air ball,'' he said in a statement.But the word got out and edited version of the hearing video was quickly making the rounds of the hungry and unsparing 24-hour media. ''GOP Congressman Addresses Dark-Skinned U.S. Officials as if They Are Indian Diplomats,'' hissed Slate.com, putting a colored spin on the episode even as late night comedians were licking their chops.American insularity and ignorance is the stuff of barbs, although in this case it was clearly a case of mistaken identity — and notion. Although foreign officials rarely testify before US Congress, it not entirely unheard of.But the joke goes that many Americans know little about their own country and its growing diversity, let alone their own neighbors — not to even mention countries far away.Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about the United States, said Canadian historian John Brebner. Well might that apply to U.S and India. '' Even Mark Twain mocked American ignorance, saying God invented war so that Americans could learn geography.In that case, New Delhi should be hoping Congressman Clay Clawson’s political career progresses no further.Incidentally, there are now dozens of Indian-Americans serving in senior positions in the Obama administration, a development that greatly agitated a former Pakistani ambassador to the US.