Another b8217;day in air

It will third time in four years when PM will be celebrating his birthday on board Air India One.

Another b8217;day in air

It will be the third time in four years that the Prime Minister will be celebrating his birthday on board Air India One. In 2008 too,there were mid-air celebrations when Singh was returning from the UN General Assembly. He turns 79 on Monday September 26,the day he takes off from New York. Given the fact that the Prime Minister is a diabetic,the Indian UN mission was arranging a sugar-free cake for him,while Air India was given instructions to have another cake on board ,possibly for the members of the media accompanying him.

Rush hour

Delayed announcement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs attendance at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly caused its share of problems. For instance,the best hotels located close to the UN headquarters were booked by other delegations,resulting in a high tariff for the hotels. The Embassy in Washington and the UN mission in New York eventually rushed through arrangements,their task made more complicated given the fact that as many seven ministers were also visiting either of the two cities almost in the same week as the Prime Minister.

Reunion time

The visit saw the Prime Minister spend rare quality time with members of his immediate family. While his eldest daughter Upinder Singh and her son Raghav were on board the special flight from New Delhi,in New York,the Prime Minister had a reunion with his youngest daughter Amrit Singh and her husband Barton Beebe,a law professor settled in New York. The entire family was present in the visitors gallery to hear the Prime Ministers address at the UNGA.

Surprise visitor

Shortly after the Prime Minister had delivered his well-crafted UN speech and was,in between the two bilateral meetings,waiting in the Indonesian Lounge of the UN building,he had a surprise visitor. The suave Pakistani Foreign Minister,Hina Rabbani Khar,walked in to say she had been looking for the Prime Minister for a while. She told him she was keen to hear his address,but could not due to a pre-scheduled bilateral meeting. The two leaders exchanged pleasantries before Singh left for his own bilateral engagement.

Divided attention

THE focus of the media contingent accompanying the Prime Minister remained divided between events at the UN headquarters and the controversy involving Home Minister P Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the 2G issue. As it turned out,the Finance Minister arrived in New York a day before schedule and stayed at Hotel Park Central,where the media delegation was also put up. Not only this,rooms on the floor on which the Finance Ministers suite was located,had been previously allotted to journalists. Mukherjee finally arrived on Saturday night through a side entrance of the hotel and members of the US Secret Service deployed outside his suite ensured that none of the scribes got a midnight byte from him.