Keeping the faith with India

The fact remains that none of the African missions in Delhi, nor the South-East Asians (save Malaysia), nor Latin America, nor India’s other neighbours, left the country for fear of a nuclear holocaust.

Nor, as a matter of fact, did the Chinese. Not one Chinese diplomat was withdrawn from India, even though in 1989, New Delhi had preferred to go by the logic of their Western colleagues when it pulled out non-essential staff and whole families over the Tian An Men square events. Meanwhile, Western diplomats sheepishly admit that by the time schools start again in August, families and other staff should be back — leading many in the government to believe that one of the reasons why the foreigners who ‘‘fled’’ did so with such alacrity was because they were getting a paid holiday home.

Still, the prize for the best excuse must go to the Japanese. Nippon Air flights home were full of, ahem, World Cup football crazies, as well as the main chef of the only truly ethnic restaurant in the city called Sapporo. Why then, asked one Japanese, should we stay on in India in this sweltering summer?

Rumsfeld stumped staff…

Host External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was presumably caught up in traffic, or, perhaps the guest, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, had finished his earlier engagement well before time. Whatever the reason, Rumsfeld was espied doing a Clinton with the lobby staff of the Taj Palace hotel in the capital, while he waited for Singh to take him to lunch. And no, it wasn’t small talk. In fact, it seemed more like a learning experience.

Rumsfeld: So have the monsoons arrived?

Staff: No, not yet, they’ve hit Kerala, but they’re still awaited in Delhi…

Rumsfeld: Do they come in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction?

Stumped staff: Er…we don’t know…

At which point, Singh landed up and rescued the Taj staff from one curious American.

…Armitage charmed all

And then there was the CIA spook-turned US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who quite charmed the Indian establishment, led by PM Vajpayee himself, with his very earnest ways. Seems Armitage told Vajpayee that he’d asked General Musharraf what he would do to reduce tensions with India, and now he was going to ask him the same question. But as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Armitage is said to have clapped his hand to his face, leant forward, and exclaimed, ‘‘Oops, I’m sorry, that was very forward,’’ adding, with some candour, ‘‘But I’m American!’’

At which point, US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill couldn’t help himself. ‘‘And that’s what makes us so charming!’’ he said. Of course, everyone laughed.

King Gyanendra comes calling

The King of Nepal is coming to India on a six-day trip on June 23, just over a whole year after the massacre that very nearly ended the royal lineage in the Hindu kingdom.

So when Gyanendra arrives in the capital on Sunday, on his first trip abroad after becoming King, Vajpayee will make a special protocol gesture by giving him dinner that evening. It’s more than a party thing this time, even though the BJP has always been closer to Nepal’s royalty than to the elected representatives of the Nepali Congress.

Still, with Nepal in a political mess, the importance of being Gyanendra cannot have escaped New Delhi. In fact, soon after the King returns to his palace in Kathmandu, he begins preparations for a trip to Beijing. Having been a businessman for many years, Gyanendra’s reincarnation as King in this very life seems to have imbued him with a certain diplomatic finesse. It’s called, ‘‘keeping one foot in India and the other in China.’’

Who’ll step into Omar’s shoes?

Is Omar Abdullah, the minister of state in the MEA, going to become Cabinet Minister? The possibility of Abdullah being pushed upstairs came over the weekend in interviews that he gave to the press, saying that since father Farooq wasn’t coming to Delhi anymore as Vice-President, he would like to have Cabinet rank.

With young Omar having spoken, the MEA is abuzz with likely successors. Seems the BJP is pushing three names, all young, bright and very TV savvy. There’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Commerce (whose Latin American junket was recently turned down by the MEA), Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of State for Coal & Mines (who replaced Omar at a Non-Aligned ministerial meeting in South Africa recently and is said to have ably articulated the point), and Digvijay Singh, Minister of State for Railways (who was last in the MEA in Chandra Shekhar’s government in 1990).

Incidentally, all three are also from Bihar.