Dinner with Gadkari

When guests appreciated the fare spread out for them at the end of a post-Budget meeting, Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport, highways and shipping, took pride in explaining that it was rustled up by a cook, who had just completed a four-day training session at a Chinese restaurant.

That explained the expertise with which the culinary fare was laid out. But that training session also had a downside. "Now whenever a minister visits me after 5 pm, he himself decides what he would eat and places the 'order' accordingly," said Gadkari.