Barack Obama will do something in India on Monday that an American president almost never does in public: He'll sit in one place, in a foreign country, for hours.

Obama will be the official "chief guest" at India's Republic Day parade. The first U.S. president invited to attend, his presence will signal an increasingly close relationship between partners with a sometimes prickly history.

Though presidents avoid lingering in public for security and schedule reasons, Obama will remain on a reviewing stand alongside his host, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the view of thousands of spectators and a television audience of millions.