A question of protocol

So, if the exit polls are correct, Narendra Modi will be India's next prime minister. And US President Barack Obama has already obliquely suggested that his government's isolation of the Gujarat chief minister may end when he said, "We look forward to working with the next government," after the results of the exit polls were announced. But several senior foreign service officers are scratching their heads over another tricky issue: who will be First Lady when Modi takes office? The issue has arisen because he has finally recorded the presence of a wife on his ballot filings, but has admitted to not living with the lady for four decades on account of his pracharak vows, and there are no indications that she is likely to start sharing the official #7 Race Course Road residence. To be sure, Modi is not India's first "bachelor" prime minister - Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one too but his adopted daughter officiated at public functions. But Modi does not appear to have any close female family members around him to fill that role.