He was amenable to speak at the Conference we were inviting him to.
He said he even had a particular background in disarmament.
He talked, man to man, with my colleague in a blue suit, about his view that other peace movements, such as the landmine one, had failed; about South Asian security being directed by a completely different set of guidelines from that of the Middle East; about being able to present his Government's views and his suggestions to build the process for dialogue on the issue of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East that we were inviting him to contribute toward.
He was courteous, self deprecating.
But he didn't address me. And what strikes me, is that I sort of took it for granted that he wouldn't. It would be a man-to-man on weapons and wars.
Often in the higher echelons of South Asian bureucracy and diplomacy, whether waiting for a journalist visa or a Ministerial interview, I find myself quickly reverting to I'm-a-little-lost-please-help mode. I did it at the Indian High Commission yesterday, for instance. The young girl in London thing. Laughing a lot, wondering look. Child-like, till I was pandered to completely. Conversed with, put through to officials in seconds, given phone numbers.
Charming.
