Usually when India talks to its neighbours, especially Pakistan or Bangladesh, an issue that inevitably finds its way onto the table is the visa question. "Journalists should get them more easily" everyone will say and - usually - nod in agreement.
But still, over at the Pak Embassy, we find our four-day visa request laughed away and instead we are given a two-day visa. What can we do in two days apart from just taking the actual journey on the new Amritsar-Lahore bus? Not much.
But that's the point. The Press Minister's PA sits me down to explain that recently at the Foreign Secretary-level talks, journalists went from the venue of the talk to Lahore where they did stories on Sarabjit Singh. Another leading channel was given a visa to Lahore to do feature stories instead they dug out "human rights stories" (this with a sliver of disgust)on Mukhtaran Mai.
"We monitor the output," I am told. "Journalists are given visas to do positive stories. That's their role in the peace process. If they don't do what they say they have gone to do, we blacklist them."
And so, now, my soft-soft Punjabiyat stories will have to wait. There's no way I can spend a few days in Lahore. No way I can do what they call "side" stories. No way we can cover Basant. No kite festival. No Bulle Shah.
Just ride the bus and get straight back. So I'm not going. Instead I can be at a friend's wedding and tail a junior doctor through one night at the AIIMS Emergency ward.
