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.(...) The unusual appearance, also making him the only two-time U.S. presidential visitor to India, caps a remarkable turnaround in bilateral ties since the December 2013 arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York.

Next week, President Barack Obama will be the “chief guest” at India’s Republic Day, the annual celebration of the 1950 Indian Constitution. The visit is expected to usher in a new, positive era in India-U.S. relations at a time when a majority of Indians have a favorable view of the United States and a majority of Americans express a positive opinion of India.

At a time of economic uncertainty, growing belligerence from Beijing and a visible warming of relations between Washington and New Delhi, Australia is recognising the benefits of its proximity to India.

The success of Obama, Modi, and others has been particularly good for digital diplomacy, which is the use of new communication technologies to help achieve diplomatic goals. It is hard to even imagine how many countries and heads of state didn't have a Twitter or Facebook account not that long ago.

The Union Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said even softer powers, like yoga, Indian curry and Bollywood songs, have contributed to enhancing the “image of a new India”

Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “whirlwind tours” and “out-of-the-box initiatives” for bringing about a sea change in India’s global image, the Union Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said even softer powers, like yoga, Indian curry and Bollywood songs, have contributed to enhancing the “image of a new India”.

From Narendra Modi’s landslide victory in India to a one-sided and violent election in Bangladesh, from mass demonstrations in Islamabad to campaigning for an early presidential poll in Sri Lanka, 2014 was a year of fast and furious politics for the fifth of the world’s population who live in south Asia.

2014 was a trailblazing year for Indian foreign policy, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sustained emphasis on improving our major external relationships. Indians enter the New Year with a more involved and connected feeling towards the rest of the world because Mr Modi has been hyperactive in travelling abroad, hosting key global leaders at home, and winning hearts and minds on an international scale.