Meeting friends in Delhi

Hotel Hyatt: I arrived in Delhi today noon. It has been pouring for the past two or three days, today was a tad better. Delhiites aren’t used to such incessant rains as they are experiencing this year.

I was supposed to be in the capital yesterday to attend the birthday-cum-felicitation celebration of Ram Jethmalani at 2 Akbar Road. I had to cancel my trip in the last minute due to the inclement weather and also because I wasn’t in a mood for a bumpy flight.

I somehow find Delhi to be very raucous, rude and over ambitious. Surprisingly, the Commonwealth Games is no more a hot topic of discussion in the drawing rooms or parties. The novelty has not only wore off but it also seems that Delhi, tired of the endless scams and allegations of corruption, has taken all this in its stride as being a part of our system. I think most of us are doing the same.

In the evening, I attended a reception at the Hotel Vasant Continental in honour of Dr Ausaf Sayeed, who has just been appointed the Indian ambassador to Yemen. Dr Sayeed and his wife would be leaving for Sana’a in next few days and all his friends and well wishers were invited by Dr Sanjay K Deewan.

Dr Deewan, who happens to be the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Cape Verde and his wife Sangeeta had introduced me to many other known faces of Delhi. I also got to meet many of my old acquaintances after a long time at the get together.

At the dinner table, I was joined by Padma Shri Mr Surinder Mehta, Chairman, Prime Group, his son Rohan Mehta and Ambassador Ahmed Salem-al-Wahishi, Chief Represantative of the League of Arab States Mission. Among others, I also met an old friend K Mahesh, IAS and Ashok Kapoor, IAS, who was Principal Secretary in West Bengal government few years back.

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