Talk of free trade and equal treatment has made some developing countries emotional and furious at the lengths to which the developed world has taken the argument. At a meeting of heads of delegations, a trade minister of a developing country just gave up when told that foreign investors had to be treated as equals to the domestic investors. In despair she said: ‘‘Just because I allow somebody to come into my house, I can’t treat him like my husband can I?’’ Point noted Ma’am.The swadeshi flavourWith patriotism levels running high in the bloodstreams of all Indians here, strange things have begun to happen. Arch-rivals CII and Ficci have found sudden love for each other. Top honchos on both sides had a dinner lasting over two hours. Present were CII director general Tarun Das and his team, while Ficci was represented by president A. C. Muthaiah and secretary general Amit Mitra. It could have been the presence of Commerce Secretary Dipak Chatterjee at the dinner that had something to do with this camradarie.Public Broadcaster woesCommerce Minister Arun Jaitley has so far handled pressures from the Big Two at Cancun — the US and EU — rather well. In fact he is seen as the messiah for the developing countries. But it is Doordarshan which is giving Jaitley sleepless nights. The public broadcaster is unable to send its images back home from Cancun. Reason? At the Delhi end technicians are unable to configure their servers to receive the feed. All private channels have dispensed with satellite transmission and have found an inexpensive way of sending their images through the Internet. But DD being DD is unable to crack the technology puzzle. Jaitley has had to call I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in exasperation.One and a half IndiansThe Indian delegation at Cancun was desperate for a taste of India, even if it had been away just about four days. After much searching, an Indian restaurant, the Taj Mahal, was located. It clearly hadn’t had so many guests for years. Run by Narinder Kang, who has roots in Chandigarh, it has hosted official delegations three days running. First the Pakistanis arrived, then the British, followed by the Indians. Kang, married to a Mexican, has little desi company otherwise. Cancun has only one other permanent resident with Indian blood, a man who’s mother is Indian and father African. So there are still some places the diaspora hasn’t reached.
