You are in a far better situation to see what is going on that I am, and I certainly appreciate hearing about it on the ground.
I forgot to add that Nixon sent in the USS Enterprise battlegroup to the Bay of Bengal to position itself against the Indian navy's aircraft carrier group which was bombing modern Bangladesh,then East Pakistan(my dad was in the IN at that time & was part of Eastern Naval task force)-fortunately or unfortunately,the Soviets sent subs to shadow the US fleet & in the end nothing happened.
Well what use in scratching dead bodies-the Indian & US armed forces have been holding regular exercises with each other for 3 years ,the foundations of which were laid when (the idol of all Freepers!!!!!!) Clinton visited here in 2000.If i'm correct,An Indian airforce contingent of Jaguar strike jets is now on multilateral exercises in Alaska.Infact just over a month back,I saw a US Arleigh Burke class (BLK 1) ship docked on a very short port of call here(Cochin,South India).Infact one of the main reasons why the US exercises with India is the fact that India uses pretty much the same weaponry that China does(SU-30MK fighter-bombers,MI-17 choppers,naval & land based SAMs etc)-& if im not wrong,the Russians don't seem to mind at all.
Despite all its natural qualifications,India can never be a big US ally like the UKfor a lot of reasons
1.a very divided polity.
2.lots of expats in the Persian Gulf(6 million of them-the primary reason why troops were not sent to Iraq).
3.A Muslim population of over 130 million(world's 2n largest)-though most prefer minding their own business & peace loving(!!),u never know how they could react if India was seen as anti-Muslim,something the US is)
4.& lastly,India has a independent attitude & wants a role for itself on various issues(something which the UK has pretty much forfeited to NATO,the EU).