Please call Ben

Finance Minister P Chidambaram addressed a session on G 20 on Tuesday organised by the Delhi-based think-tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. However, reporters were more intent on catching him on the sidelines of the event to comment on the decision that the US Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee is expected to take on quantitative easing at its meeting on Wednesday. In all seriousness, Chidambaram told reporters to take down the phone number of the person concerned. As unsuspecting reporters started taking out their pens and pads to note the number, the finance minister said he was talking about US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's number. "Please call him and ask what he plans to do," he told reporters. Touche!