Just Like That: Unforgettable stories from State banquets
From IK Gujral to Indira Gandhi, here's how illustrious leaders dealt with the boredom and unusual circumstances of State dinners
In a diplomat’s life, state banquets for heads of state or government are unavoidable. When our leaders go abroad, and when foreign leaders visit India, a banquet by their counterparts is almost always a mandatory part of the programme. In our case, usually, the Prime Minister (PM) hosts a lunch, and the President has a dinner banquet at Rashtrapati Bhavan, of which I attended a great many when I was press secretary to the Rashtrapati. 
These are mostly humdrum affairs, replete with protocol formalities, elaborately devised seating plans strictly according to hierarchy, carefully devised menus, and banquet speeches given by the host and the invitee before the commencement of the sit-down course by-course meal. In India, we do not serve alcohol during or before the banquet, which must feel like an imposition on those dignitaries for whom a glass of wine with dinner is customary, and find such abstemiousness puzzling.
But some banquets stand out for me. Former PM Indira Gandhi visited Romania in October 1981, when I was posted as number two in the Indian embassy there. Nicolae Ceaușescu, the then president of the country and a ruthless dictator, hosted the customary banquet in her honour. It was a Tuesday, a day on which Mrs Gandhi traditionally fasted. This was, however, not conveyed to the host country, since Tuesday was the only day available for the banquet.
After the speeches were made by both leaders, the soup arrived. As the meal proceeded to the next course, Ceaușescu realized that his chief guest had not had the soup, nor was she eating. Solicitously, he asked her why. Mrs Gandhi told him that she fasted on Tuesdays and had already had her dinner. In deference to her fast, Ceaușescu, in his imperious way, immediately announced that the banquet was over. All the guests immediately stood up and left, leaving behind an elaborate menu they had just begun eating. It was the shortest banquet I ever attended.
Another interesting banquet comes to my mind. This was held in the Kremlin hosted by then Russian president Boris Yeltsin for the former PM PV Narasimha Rao in June 1994. Rao saheb was a strict teetotaller and vegetarian. In fact, his actual preference was for south Indian food. On the day of the banquet, he had already had his dinner especially prepared for him by a senior colleague in the embassy, M. Ganapathi, whose idlis and dosas were indeed excellent. Yeltsin, on the other hand, loved his vodka, and of course meat.
In deference to the Indian PM, the Russians were not serving any alcohol at the banquet, which really meant a great sacrifice! But periodically, an aide to Yeltsin would arrive with a glass camouflaged in a napkin and hand it to him. It was his shot of vodka. Narasimha Rao sat morosely throughout, hardly nibbling on the endless courses of food that kept coming. There was no conversation between him and his host. Meanwhile, the vodka shots kept coming, and Yeltsin, in spite of his non-communicative guest, was soon in rather a good mood. At one point, he began to chat animatedly with Rao’s daughter, also seated on the high table. I was mortally afraid that soon he was going to ask the PM’s daughter to dance with him!
But there was a banquet where the head of State and his wife, and a visiting head of government and his wife, actually danced! This happened during former PM Inder Kumar Gujral’s State visit to South Africa in October 1997. A banquet for him and his wife, Sheila Gujral, was thrown by then president Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graça Machel (the widow of the former president of Mozambique, Samora Machel).
A live choir was singing during the dinner. As the dessert was being served, Mandela, who was greatly enjoying the music, suddenly got up and asked Sheila Gujral for a dance. Mrs Gujral was completely taken by surprise, but being a poet and writer herself, and the wife of a diplomat when her husband was ambassador to Russia, smilingly obliged. All the guests clapped as Mandela and Sheila danced. Now it was IK Gujral’s turn, and he rose gallantly to the occasion, asking—as convention demanded—Graça Machel for a dance. There was further applause when they got up to join their spouses. Mandela and Machel were dancing effortlessly, but the Gujrals too, I must say, did not do too badly. The banquet was a rousing success.
Pavan K Varma is author, diplomat, and former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
Just Like That is a weekly column where Varma shares nuggets from the world of history, culture, literature, and personal reminiscences with HT Premium readers
The views expressed are personal
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