At home with the President

The Indian government, it appears, was careful that Saudi sensitivities were not offended in any way.

One reads the king did not want to visit Rajghat, the Mahatma's samadhi -- a stopover on virtually every visiting leader's Delhi itinerary. The government apparently said okay.

Every Republic Day in recent years, the nation honours its bravest just before the parade begins its journey down Rajpath. Soon after unfurling the tricolour, the President awards the Ashok Chakra to an officer or soldier who has demonstrated remarkable bravery fighting the enemy.

Since this is peacetime, the theatre of conflict is usually Jammu and Kashmir, and the enemy is the terrorist. Most of the Ashok Chakra winners have made the ultimate sacrifice for the motherland and honouring their memory is an occasion marked by sadness at a life lost and pride that we have in our midst such courageous young men. No such ceremony took place this year. Is it because no such act of valour was recorded this past year? Or was it because the government did not want to upset the Saudis?

At the President's At Home too, there is a kind of zenana in the special enclosure with all the women -- Sonia Gandhi, Shiela Dixit, Vimla Sharma (the late President Shankar Dayal Sharma's widow), Usha and Amrita Narayanan (the late President K R Narayanan's widow and younger daughter), Union minister Selja Kumari -- on one side. Dunno if it is such a good idea, since it means the king and the Saudi delegation face the unveiled ladies, something not possible back home.

Also See: Republic Day Special: 'We are soldiers'
All set for R-Day
The King in India

When he first spots the lady many say is India's most powerful person, King Abdullah, seen here with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur, gives her a shy half-wave. Needless to say, the monarch does not exchange a word with Sonia, who receives a constant flow of visitors through the 45 minutes set aside for the At Home.

Photograph: Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images