As a regional power, India has often fallen between a fulsome exercise of strength, or an extraordinary hesitation in saying its piece. Often, the double-speak of regional leaderships—critical of New Delhi in the morning and seeking favours by the evening—comes in the way of achieving the right balance. Sometimes, a concatenation of circumstance, policy and personality fuses together to create a moment, even if this interlude isn’t later remembered as a dramatic one. External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh’s visit to Nepal over the weekend was one such moment—even if he returned to his obsession with Pakistan almost as soon as he returned, speaking to Pakistan Foreign Minister Kasuri three times in the last ten days.Singh met the spectrum of the Nepalese leadership, from King Gyanendra to the disgruntled leader of the Nepali Congress, G P Koirala, an old friend and ally of the Congress-Socialist groups in Delhi and currently obsessed with making himself prime minister of Nepal. He also had an interesting and largely unreported meeting with the ‘‘Madhesis’’, a powerful group of people of Indian origin that belong to the Terai region, which borders India. New Delhi has been determined for a while to transform the Terai into a safety belt for India, using economics to create a win-win situation for both nations. For example, roads in Bihar which end at the border will be extended and merged into the Nepalese road system, while the last railhead in India will also now end in Birganj. (Kathmandu has already allowed India to open a second consulate in Birganj.) Significantly, there’s also talk of India and Nepal working together to counter the Maoist threat.King’s royal treatmentDemocratic India’s relations with the Nepalese monarchy could easily be developed into a fine art—much like the Kremlinologists of yore. With a reputation of being close to the RSS, which had declared him ‘‘a Hindu Samrat’’ only this January, King Gyanendra certainly pulled out all the stops for K Natwar Singh. The minister’s entourage was allowed in through the main palace gates, normally reserved for bluebloods and heads of state or government. He spent an hour and ten minutes with him. Crown Prince Paras was in attendance during the meeting.Singh gifted Gyanendra a coffee-table book on the former Maharajas of Patiala, with whom he’s related by marriage. Other gifts to other people included a book Singh has recently published, called Profiles and Letters, in which key personalities such as C Rajagopalachari, Zia ul-Haq and Han Suyin have been profiled. The book gifts are believed to have been paid by him personally—and not by the MEA, as is usually the case.New-look EmbassyIndia's envoy to Nepal Shyam Saran ordered that not one tree in the vast, 47-acre compound of the Indian Embassy be cut, when the 57-year-old barracks are very soon pulled down to make way for new offices and residences. The story goes that President Zakir Hussain laid the foundation stone for the new buildings some 40 years ago—and that every other envoy forgot to push the idea through. Finally, the grand Indian estate, which New Delhi inherited from the British after Independence in 1947—the British Embassy was halved, one half being given to India in Nepal in exchange for territory in Afghanistan—is to get a spanking new look. Everything is going to be demolished, except the ambassador’s magnificent residence.Unfortunately, the 140-year-old residence of the Defence Attache is also going to get the axe. Seems that occupants have had a problem with the smallish ‘‘representational area’’, MEA jargon for space that is supposed to be used for entertainment, in the house. The really old building looks in pretty bad shape, but has considerable character with its tiled roof, its wood-latticed windows and wooden balustrades. It has a large, beautiful garden too, but that is said to be a negative in this particular space. What a pity the Delhi-based architects advised that the heritage site be demolished—instead of finding ways to reinvent it.A hitch in take-offEven if you’ve finally found the Buddha head you’ve always wanted, in Nepal, don’t ever make the mistake of putting it in your hand luggage. After the IC-814 journey, which began in Kathmandu and ended in Kandahar in December 1999, New Delhi’s security measures have never been tighter. After numerous X-ray machines which scrutinise your bags and human beings which go through them with a tooth-comb, there’s a final frontier to be breached at the foot of the Indian Airlines plane. What is so ridiculous is that passenges have to carry their heavy hand baggage four steps up to a staging area on wheels, where it is thoroughly checked again.Seems that New Delhi demanded a last frisking when IC restarted its flights about three years ago, but that Nepal refused to allow Indian personnel to infringe on its sovereign space. The argument got so ugly that a compromise was found in the raised stage. India argued that the frisking could be legitimately done a few feet above the ground since that was not Nepali territory. Kathmandu reluctantly agreed. In the new era of Indo-Nepal friendship, it would be a good idea to discard this irritating measure.
