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In a diplomat’s life, state banquets for heads of state or authorities are unavoidable. When our leaders go overseas, and when international leaders go to India, a banquet by their counterparts is sort of all the time a compulsory a part of the programme. In our case, often, the Prime Minister (PM) hosts a lunch, and the President has a dinner banquet at Rashtrapati Bhavan, of which I attended a terrific many once I was press secretary to the Rashtrapati.
These are principally humdrum affairs, replete with protocol formalities, elaborately devised seating plans strictly in response to hierarchy, fastidiously devised menus, and banquet speeches given by the host and the invitee earlier than the graduation of the sit-down course by-course meal. In India, we don’t serve alcohol throughout or earlier than the banquet, which should really feel like an imposition on these dignitaries for whom a glass of wine with dinner is customary, and discover such abstemiousness puzzling.
However some banquets stand out for me. Former PM Indira Gandhi visited Romania in October 1981, once I was posted as quantity two within the Indian embassy there. Nicolae Ceaușescu, the then president of the nation and a ruthless dictator, hosted the customary banquet in her honour. It was a Tuesday, a day on which Mrs Gandhi historically fasted. This was, nevertheless, not conveyed to the host nation, since Tuesday was the one day accessible for the banquet.
After the speeches had been made by each leaders, the soup arrived. Because the meal proceeded to the following course, Ceaușescu realized that his chief visitor had not had the soup, nor was she consuming. Solicitously, he requested her why. Mrs Gandhi advised him that she fasted on Tuesdays and had already had her dinner. In deference to her quick, Ceaușescu, in his imperious manner, instantly introduced that the banquet was over. All of the company instantly stood up and left, forsaking an elaborate menu that they had simply begun consuming. It was the shortest banquet I ever attended.
One other attention-grabbing banquet involves my thoughts. This was held within the Kremlin hosted by then Russian president Boris Yeltsin for the previous PM PV Narasimha Rao in June 1994. Rao saheb was a strict teetotaller and vegetarian. Actually, his precise desire was for south Indian meals. On the day of the banquet, he had already had his dinner particularly ready for him by a senior colleague within the embassy, M. Ganapathi, whose idlis and dosas had been certainly wonderful. Yeltsin, then again, liked his vodka, and naturally meat.
In deference to the Indian PM, the Russians weren’t serving any alcohol on the banquet, which actually meant a terrific sacrifice! However periodically, an aide to Yeltsin would arrive with a glass camouflaged in a serviette and hand it to him. It was his shot of vodka. Narasimha Rao sat morosely all through, hardly nibbling on the countless programs of meals that stored coming. There was no dialog between him and his host. In the meantime, the vodka pictures stored coming, and Yeltsin, despite his non-communicative visitor, was quickly in fairly temper. At one level, he started to speak animatedly with Rao’s daughter, additionally seated on the excessive desk. I used to be mortally afraid that quickly he was going to ask the PM’s daughter to bop with him!
However there was a banquet the place the top of State and his spouse, and a visiting head of presidency and his spouse, truly danced! This occurred throughout former PM Inder Kumar Gujral’s State go to to South Africa in October 1997. A banquet for him and his spouse, Sheila Gujral, was thrown by then president Nelson Mandela and his spouse, Graça Machel (the widow of the previous president of Mozambique, Samora Machel).
A stay choir was singing through the dinner. Because the dessert was being served, Mandela, who was vastly having fun with the music, immediately acquired up and requested Sheila Gujral for a dance. Mrs Gujral was utterly taken abruptly, however being a poet and author herself, and the spouse of a diplomat when her husband was ambassador to Russia, smilingly obliged. All of the company clapped as Mandela and Sheila danced. Now it was IK Gujral’s flip, and he rose gallantly to the event, asking—as conference demanded—Graça Machel for a dance. There was additional applause once they acquired as much as be part of their spouses. Mandela and Machel had been dancing effortlessly, however the Gujrals too, I need to say, didn’t do too badly. The banquet was a rousing success.
Pavan Okay Varma is creator, diplomat, and former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
Simply Like That could be a weekly column the place Varma shares nuggets from the world of historical past, tradition, literature, and private reminiscences with HT Premium readers
The views expressed are private
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