Allow me to be your blue-eyed boy, for Freedom's sake!

By Rypvanwinkle

Chamal, Gota and Basil were discussing who they should be inviting as Chief Guest for the 6oth anniversary of independence. They were all angry that Manmohan had refused to attend.

"It is our fault," Chamal said, "we should have invited someone else..."

"Yes," Basil agreed, "but we invited him because we thought he would come..."

"Well," Gota said, "they even indicated that he would be coming, which is why we were counting on his presence..."
"It was then that he began to put forward his conditions, hinting that he may not turn up if we didn't dance to his tune..." Chamal said.

"Of course," Basil said, "we thought we could show the world that India supports us no matter what we do, which is why we wanted him here, but he didn't rise to the bait..."

"And then, it was too late to invite anyone else because that person would have looked like a substitute for the real thing..." Chamal observed.

"I always thought Musharraf would have been a better bet..." Gota noted.

"He would have definitely turned up unless there was a coup in his own country, and he wouldn't have put forward any conditions because he is battling terrorists in his own country..." Basil agreed.

"Can we ask anyone else now?" Chamal wanted to know.
"We can't ask just anyone," Gota said, "it has to be someone with a very high profile..."
"Someone like Bush, for instance?" Basil proposed.

"I don't think he knows where Sri Lanka is..." Chamal said, "although Hillary Clinton would have come if we asked her earlier because she was here before; so she certainly knows where Sri Lanka is..."

"No, no," Gota said, "we shouldn't ask Hillary or even Bill Clinton..."
"Why is that?" Chamal wanted to know.

"Why, Bill is Satellite's good friend and they say Hillary is getting money from the Tigers..." Gota explained.
"How about Tony Blair, then?" Chamal asked, "he is retired now and like all retired leaders all dressed up with nowhere to go..."
"I'm not sure whether he will come here either," Basil said, "Chilcott may have told nasty tales about us, to him too..."

"Or we should have invited Sarkozy, the French President before Manmohan asked him to come for India's Independence Day celebrations..." Gota said, "that would have taught Manmohan a lesson..."
"Yes, but if that chap came here," Basil pointed out, "everyone would have been talking about his girl friend and no one would have bothered about our celebrations..."

"I know of someone who might still come...." Gota said.
"And who is that?" Basil wanted to know.
"Why, Ahmedinejad, the Iranian President," Gota suggested, "he seems to be the only man who wants to be friends with us at the moment..."

"But won't everyone else like America and England be annoyed with us if we ask him to come for our celebrations?" Chamal wondered.
"Maybe they will," Basil said, "but what is the use of being friendly with them if this is how they treat us?"
"Then, we should ask Mahinda about the Iranian chap..." Chamal said.

Mahinda walked in just then and wanted to know what the discussion was about and they told him.
"No," Mahinda said, "don't do anything of the sort..."
"But we don't have a proper Chief Guest..." Chamal said.
"Of course we have..." Mahinda countered.

"And who is that?" Gota wanted to know.
"Why it is me and me alone now that Manmohan is not coming, so let us leave it like that and make the most of it..." Mahinda said.

Chamal, Gota and Basil didn't disagree with that.