The Fidel Castro I knew

A popular story about President Fidel Castro is about the three-hour (or longer) speeches that he used to make. At one stage, he decided to cut the speech down to one hour to give his audience a......

Encounter: India's honoured guest

In the months following our nuclear tests of 1998, there was not a day on which either Naresh Chandra, India's ambassador to the USA, or I did not face questions from the press, the think tanks,......

The King of Tonga

T P Sreenivasan, among India's most distinguished diplomats, continues his column based on his encounters with some of the world's most famous people. I learnt about the kingdom of Tonga and its......

Our man in Moscow

D P Dhar was my first political ambassador, though alas, only for a brief while. It was his second stint in Moscow and he was obviously not happy to go there again, after having been a hero of the......