Some years ago, a socially mobile Indian Foreign Service officer in charge of the high-profile external publicity division (XP), whose penchant for publicity of the Page 3 kind irked the then foreign minister, suddenly found himself posted as the joint secretary of the Africa division. In those days, Africa division was responsible for the whole continent, minus the Arab countries that were the NA in the WANA (West Asia and North Africa) division dealing with the entire Islamic crescent. Our well-connected diplomat moaned to all who would listen and he considered the posting a humiliation. He wanted anything else under the ministry of external affairs (MEA) than that. Such was the standing...
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