The Hindu Business Line : Lunch ‘n’ news

It may not be an indicator of the type of Budget he will present this month-end, but the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, is in a good mood these days. On New Year’s Day, he surprised journalists by inviting them, at short notice, for a press conference which provided not one, not two, but at least three reports. At that meeting he also mentioned in passing that he wanted to have lunch with the scribes.

This promise he kept when journalists covering the Finance beat received invitations for a Pongal lunch at his residence. Chidambaram has been around in the Union Council of Ministers for over two decades now, but none could recall if he had invited the media to his house for a meal ever. So those invited turned up in good numbers to enjoy a sumptuous lunch under bright sunlight on a cold winter day. The Finance Minister played the perfect host, persuading people to go for a refill and he himself waiting till the last to have his lunch. The banter over lunch was light and interesting, a mix of official talk and some political gossip. There was no confirmation, however, whether such events would be a regular affair.

‘Dashing’ gesture

The Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, seems to have picked up some diplomatic skills during his countless interactions with VIPs abroad. He was in Davos (Switzerland) late last month for the World Economic Forum annual meeting but air-dashed to Delhi to receive the visiting French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, at an industry meet. From the dais, he told the French dignitary “I was in Davos yesterday and have come here to meet you. After this, I am flying bac k to Davos.” Needless to say, Sarkozy looked suitably impressed.

A random hit!

The ‘do-not-call’ directory notwithstanding, pesky telemarketing calls have now reached a new dimension. According to those in the know, one of the country’s top police officials who heads an intelligence organisation was completely taken aback when he received such a call on his mobile. His surprise was understandable because his mobile number is supposed to be a top secret with very few in the country having access to it. Immediately four officials were put on the job to find out how the number had reached the call centres. After some investigation, it turned out that telemarketers do not necessarily have a ready database to call potential customers. Apparently, they are given a number, say 98100-12345, and they call sequentially going down the line like 98100-12346, 98100-12347 etc. The official’s number popped up during one such exercise.

Back to the scribes

There is more on database sellers. One such organisation has been flooding journalists with e-mails claiming that they have a ready database of 500 senior journalists in the country with their phone numbers and e-mail IDs which they can supply for a price. Since such offers did not result in any significant business, the organisation has now started sending e-mails with subjects such as ‘Invite for January 26,’ ‘Press conference invite’, etc, so th at people open these mails. One basic flaw in this organisation’s marketing strategy, however, is that it is offering to sell journalists’ database to journalists themselves.

OUR NEW DELHI BUREAU