Richard Blum describes what happened: “I offered it [the khata] to President Obama before the ceremony. I said that I could get it delivered to him later. He said, no, that he was going to take it and have it with him; in fact, it was in his pocket when he was sworn-in.”

Richard Blum lives in San Francisco and is a Special Envoy to Nepal. He has been a Tibet supporter for many years. Richard was up on the platform during the swearing in ceremony of Barack Obama and had a role as escort for the First Lady.

His wife is California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who introduced Barack Obama at the inauguration. She is also a longtime supporter of Tibet.

Before the inauguration, Richard told Barack Obama that he had with him a white khata - a silk Tibetan scarf - given to him by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Blum described what happened next in an email to Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama’s Speial Envoy:

“I offered it to President Obama before the ceremony. I said that I could get it delivered to him later. He said, no, that he was going to take it and have it with him; in fact, it was in his pocket when he was sworn-in.”