Soup for health

Pranab Mukherjee, finance minister and No. 2 in Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet, has his say in most of the major policy decisions. But when it comes to getting his favourite drink — tea — in Parliament, the canteen boy chooses to apply his own mind over Mukherjee’s choice. Whenever Mukherjee asks for tea during lunch time to serve to journalists or politicians in his room, he is invariably catered hot vegetarian soups. Mukherjee too has observed this but never questioned the prudence of the Railway catering service in Parliament House. Even the guests prefer to sip soup before lunch. On Monday, when again soup was served instead of tea, Mukherjee quipped to his guests, “The moral of the story is, during lunch hours you’ll not get tea but only soup.”