Minor storm over a cup of chai for Vajpayee

It wasn’t a huge request. Just a cup of tea and some mineral water, please. But some days after Prime Minister A B Vajpayee suddenly de...

It wasn’t a huge request. Just a cup of tea and some mineral water, please. But some days after Prime Minister A B Vajpayee suddenly decided to quench his thirst, airport officials at Mumbai and Indian Airlines’ bigwigs are still trying to explain why they found it so difficult to accommodate this simple demand.

The Prime Minister was supposed to address an election rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park and officials expected him to walk straight from the aircraft to his car and head for the function. The PM walked to the car—and then asked for a cup of tea.

Panic set in.

The ceremonial lounge at the airport was caught off-guard. Top officials from various agencies jumped in to add to the confusion. A request was made to the Oberoi restaurant at the airport. Simultaneously, an airline official and a CISF inspector dashed off to the the catering section. A full 15 minutes passed.

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Explanations are still flying around. The protocol staff is being asked why there was no back-up plan. Officials at the airport are saying they had only been told to leave some lemons and mineral water in the PM’s car for nimbu-paani.

Meanwhile, the PM has long had his chai and moved on.

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