The Hindu : PM stumped for a moment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 22, 2004

National

National

PM stumped for a moment

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI, JAN. 21. "May I know who is calling ?'' An innocuous enough query that one regularly hears on calling somebody over phone led to some hilarious moments today. For, the person who was calling was none other than the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was making a call to formally launch the new network of call centres that has been set up by the Government to provide expert advice to the farming community.

On dialling the designated number "1551," he was first greeted by the slogan of "jai kisan" and it was immediately followed by the query, leading to an uproar of laughter among the dignitaries gathered for the function at the Prime Minister's residence. Mr. Vajpayee himself was visibly stumped for almost a minute.

But, even before the laughter could subside and Mr. Vajpayee tried to resume the call, the cheeky operator bowled another googly. This time, he wanted to know his telephone number and address. But, the Prime Minister was not to be stumped for a second time. Wiser by the first experience, he quickly responded and asked the operator to include him in the list of farmers who did not have a telephone connection.

After that, it was business as usual with the Prime Minister asking about what would be the impact of the showers in the northern region today and the operator replying that it would be good as it would provide the much-needed moisture for the crops and also mitigate the problem of fog.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National