Tea first

Usually, at government press conferences, journalists are handed a press note before the deliberation starts, and then are only half-attentive to the rest of the proceedings - and tea is promised as a reward if you can get through it. Things are beginning to change, however. Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya's press conference held on Tuesday, for example, wasn't the usual affair. Both print and television journalists hung around waiting for the minister's address for 30 minutes. Then snacks were served; then tea; and only then, as a dessert perhaps, the press note. An apologetic minister was seen coming in only 45 minutes on.