Party time

You have got to hand it to the Badals, they know how to entertain guests. Last week, Sukhbir Singh Badal, deputy chief minister of Punjab, and his wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, minister of food processing, invited some ministers and journalists and a few friends from the Opposition - Kanimozhi Karunanidhi from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Supriya Sule from the Congress - for a classic Punjabi food party. The spread was pure vegetarian and the water in which the food was prepared was ferried - hold your breath - all the way from Amritsar to impart an authentic Punjabi flavour. The traditional sarson ka saag and makke ki roti apart, on the menu were little-known delicacies from the region such as kadhi-samosa and Amritsari chhole kulche. The high point of the evening was the way the couple posed for shutterbugs - Harsimrat fanned her husband vigorously as he lounged on a manji (cot).