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Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri has received the 2014 National Medals of Arts and Humanities from the US President, Barack Obama. The Pulitzer Prize winner, Jhumpa Lahiri along with 20 other distinguished persons received awards from the President at a White House ceremony.

Addressing the audience, the President said, "I always do good with writers and scientists. Those are my crew."

"One of our great poets, Emily Dickinson, once said that 'truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.' The truth is so rare, it is delightful to tell it - and that's especially true in Washington," President added amid laughter.

As Lahiri received the award, the aide read, "The 2014 National Humanities Medal to Jhumpa Lahiri for enlarging the human story. In her works of fiction, Dr Lahiri has illuminated the Indian American experience in beautifully wrought narratives of estrangement and belonging.”

The humanities medal is an honor for the work from an organization or individual which deepened the understanding of the nation regarding the human experience, widened the engagement of citizens with literature and history. The work could also be the one which have expanded the access of Americans to cultural resources.

Lahiri received the honour for her work on novel, "The Lowland". Obama took the book along with few others to vacation in Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. According to the New York Times, the premise of the novel is called "startlingly operatic". The Lowland is a story about two brothers grew up in Calcutta in the 1960s. One of them is killed after which the other one marries his pregnant widow and moves to the US.

Amongst other awardees are writers, scholar, historians, artists, food activist, preservationist, philosopher besides an education course.

-Sumana