A world away from Delhi, the children in Tamil Nadu felt totally left out.
Disappointment loomed large over Tamil Nadu after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address completely in Hindi to schoolchildren on the occasion of Teachers' Day. The refrain: "We are happy about his idea to speak to children. But we could not follow him."
The language divide is stark in Tamil Nadu - children understand English far better than they do Hindi. In rural Tamil Nadu very few opt for Hindi in schools. Often, their teachers are no better off.
Today, in rural parts of the state, many didn't even get to watch the show. State broadcaster Doordarshan's news channel which telecast the programme live, is not offered by the state-run Arasu cable TV. A private Tamil satellite news channel, which telecast the live programme for a while, soon switched to its regular news.
At Bhavani's Government Boys Higher Secondary School, students and teachers - who did watch the show - were equally in the dark about the speeches and jokes. All are now waiting for an official translation of the speech.
"The Prime Minister knows English. We expected he would switch between English and Hindi," said Sri Ram, a student of Class XII.
Their teachers had misgivings too. "The PM has, in a sense, ignored a large section of non-Hindi speaking students. This is a tacit Hindi imposition the BJP is accused of," said one of them.
Even the state BJP could not wholeheartedly approve of the proceedings. "We, too, hoped the Prime Minister would speak a little in English. We are a bit disappointed. But it's also a question of his comfort level in English," said a senior leader of the party.