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National Conference leader Omar Abdullah didn’t know where to look when some newly elected parliamentarians in Afghanistan accosted him about Operation Duryodhana. Abdullah had landed in Kabul, blissfully ignorant about the storm back home over the cash-for-queries scandal. Ironically, the new Afghan Parliament had invited him as part of a training programme it has launched to familiarise its recently elected MPs with parliamentary norms and procedures. With his Afghan “students’’ firing questions at him about the corruption expose, Abdullah had to quickly update himself via Internet. The Afghan MPs were pretty clued into the news from India and were keeping themselves abreast through e-papers.

But Abdullah’s most embarrassing moment came when he held a session on ethics. As his audience looked knowingly at him, the youthful NC leader smiled and began by saying perhaps it was better to talk about what MPs should NOT do, rather than what they should do! Despite the taint of the recent scandal, Abdullah was amazed to find how much respect there is in Afghanistan for India’s democratic traditions and how eager the MPs were to hear about our Parliament.

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The BJP’s women MPs have their own method of bonding. They meet once a week when Parliament is in session for a “kitty party’’. Just for the record, these parties don’t actually have a kitty to be shared by the MPs. The women meet for tea and samosas at the end of a working day and everyone lets their hair down.

The biggest transformation is seen in Sushma Swaraj. She morphs from an aggressive, hard talking BJP leader into a giggly girl-next-door kind of person. Backbencher MPs who are in awe of her are surprised by the transformation and over many such tea gatherings, Swaraj has managed to win several admirers among the women. Her crowning glory apparently is her hidden talent for singing. She usually ends up warbling a couple of songs for her fellow MPs. Not quite the shrill, pious Swaraj we see on television.

One MP who stays well away from these hen parties is Maneka Gandhi. She’s apparently turned up her nose at the idea of hobnobbing with the mahila brigade over tea, even when invited by the party’s glamour girl Hema Malini. Bollywood’s Dream Girl hosted the last tea of the winter session and graciously served all her guests even though many of them turned up as late as 8 p.m. because the Lok Sabha sat well into the night that day.

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Volcker-stung Natwar Singh surfaced in the last week of Parliament, looking somewhat downcast but obviously determined to brave it out. He had gone underground on a holiday somewhere in the immediate aftermath of his resignation but he’s back in the Capital’s party circuit. Sadly for him, Congress leaders are giving him a wide berth, obviously waiting for a signal from 10 Janpath on his current status. Congress MP Jyotiradtiya Scindia was loyal enough to invite him to a dinner recently but most party leaders ignored Singh after a perfunctory greeting. Ultimately, Singh was spied sitting alone at a table to eat his dinner. The only Congress functionary of note who was bold enough to give him company was old friend Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net