Several countries are interested in purchasing the BrahMos cruise missiles, CEO and managing director of the BraHmos project in India Dr A.S. Pillai said in Moscow, adding that the missiles may be delivered to some of the countries from six months to a year.Pillai is accompanying President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on a four-nation tour and they will both visit the BraHmos installation tomorrow. The missiles are produced by an Indo-Russian joint venture.Speaking to The Indian Express, Pillai said that after 10 successful tests in India and the induction of the BrahMos by the Indian armed forces, the ‘‘what next?’’ question was also on President Kalam’s mind. ‘‘I will not name the countries, but there are several friendly nations which have approached us. Being a joint venture, it is up to the governments of both the countries to sit down and decide when and with whom the commercial sales of the missile system should take place,’’ he said.‘‘In my opinion, within six months to a year’s time, some marketing deals for the multi-platform, multi-target missile system may be signed,’’ Pillai added.When the BraHmos joint venture was signed in 1998 by Kalam, who was then scientific advisor to the Defence Minister, and N.V. Mikhailov, the Deputy Defence Minister, the joint venture was dedicated towards the research, development, manufacture and marketing of the anti-cruise missile systems.According to the scientist who has been associated with it from its inception, the project has now entered its fourth — and most profitable — stage. Pillai said that following the interest shown in the induction of the BrahMos missiles by the three Indian armed forces, and its proposed induction into the Indian Navy by the end of the year, India would also like the Russian side to reciprocate. ‘‘We are hoping the Russian Navy would similarly plan to induct the BraHmos soon. After successful trials, product improvement and marketing are the priorities for India.’’Moscow diaryHome food Jostling for space among the sea of baggage being loaded onto Air India 1 yesterday were six high plastic cartons packed by the Rashtrapati Bhavan staff. Along with celery sticks and zucchini, a lot of coconuts, tender coconuts, raw bananas, even curry leaves could be spotted. The vegetables comprise the staple diet of President Kalam and besides the South Indian fare provided to him on Tanjore, a Rashtrapati Bhavan cook usually prepares his favorite vegetables in hotels during all his foreign travels, right down to the curd rice and rasam. Soviet-era hospitalityThe 18-member media contingent were put up at the Rossia Hotel in Moscow and got a whiff of what the gargantuan hotels built during Soviet rule were like. Rossia is probably the largest hotel in Europe and one of the few left to be demolished and rebuilt. This is how the Lonely Planet describes it, ‘‘Rossia gets a bad rap just because it’s so bad and ugly, but perhaps you cannot see how ugly it is if you’re inside.’’ But Rossia, too, we were told, is soon to be dismantled and rebuilt. The hotel has recently been sold to a group of private businessmen.Iceland linkBesides Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who is flying in to Reykjavik to join the Presidential party, Milind Deora was the other politician discovered with an ‘‘Icelandic connection’’. One of the two MP’s accompanying the President (the other is TDP MP N.P. Durga) Deora boasts of President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson as a ‘‘close’’ family friend. Here’s how: his father, Murli Deora and Grimsson have been members on International Parliamentary Committees. Deora says when President Grimsson visited New Delhi in February, he asked President Kalam to bring along a young MP to Reykjavik, but doesn't know how precisely he got on the trip. Now Deora may break away from the Presidential party a day before the scheduled return, since Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh is to inaugurate a hospital in his constituency in Mumbai on June 4.
