Teachable moments

Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal may be a veteran Parliamentarian but he still needed a tiny bit of coaching ahead of presenting his first Railway Budget to Parliament. Just before he rose to present the Railway Budget and the TV cameras were switched on, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath were seen solicitously showing him how to activate the lapel mike and where to place the papers from which he would read. He has connections with both ministers, of course, having served as minister of state in the finance ministry under Chidambaram in his first stint in North Block under the United Progressive Alliance, and he preceded Nath as parliamentary affairs minister.