New Delhi, Jan. 13 -- "Act like Elvis just walked in the room" -- this was the exhortation for scores of US embassy employees gathered outside the mission on Monday to greet ambassador-designate Sergio Gor for what would be his first day in office after arriving in India last week.

As the American officials and diplomats and a large media contingent waited under a bright winter sun for some 90 minutes, they were entertained by a playlist of songs that ranged from the classic 1990s heavy metal of Metallica's Enter Sandman to the schmaltz of the Lionel Richie hit Hello.

The US employees were asked to cheer long before Gor drove into the mission compound in a BMW so that some B-roll footage could be shot for a video on his arrival at the e...