The

enve
lope
was
hand
-
deliv
ered
to
our
hous
e in
Golf
Links
, Tan
encl
ave
in
New
Delhi
whos
e
nam
e
capt
ured
the
club
babl
e
lifest
yle
of its
leisu
red
and
prop
ertie
d
India
n
resi-
dent
s,
soon
after
we
had
arriv
ed in
the
midd
le of
a
north
India
n
winte
r to
begi
n a
long
assig
nme
nt. It
cont
aine
d a
large
card,
with
a
pictu
re
emb
osse
d in
red
and
gold
ofthe
elep
hant-
head
ed
deity
Gan
esh,
impr
obab
ly
carri
ed
on
the
back
of a
muc
h
small
ermo
use.
Dhir
ubha
i and
Kokil
aben
Amb
ani
invite
d us
to
the
wed
ding
of
their
son
Anil
toTin
a
Muni
m in
Bom
bay.
In
Janu
ary
1991
, just
prior
to
the
expl
osio
n in
car
own
ershi
p
that
in
later
winte
rs
keptt
he
midd
ay
war
mth
trapp
ed in
a
throa
t-
teari
ng
haze
over
night
, it
was
bitter
ly
cold
most
of
the
time
in
Delhi
. Our
furnit
ure
had
still
not
arriv
ed-a
day
of
nego
tiatio
ns
abou
t the
duty
paya
ble
lay
ahea
d at
the
Delhi
cust
oms
ofc
e
wher
e the
cont
ainer
was
brok
en
open
and
insp
ecte
d-
and
we
cam
ped
on
ofc
e
chair
s
and
fold-
up
beds
,
wrap
ped
in
blan-
kets.
The
India
n
story
was
also
in a
state
of
susp
ensi
on,
waiti
ng
for
som
ethin
g to
happ
en.T
he
Gulf
War,
whic
h we
watc
hed
at a
big
hotel
on
this
new
thing
calle
d
satell
ite
televi
-
sion,
was
unde
r-
cutti
ng
man
y of
the
assu
mpti
ons
on
whic
h the
Con
gres
s
Party
’s
famil
ydyn
asty,
the
Nehr
us
and
Gan
dhis,
had
built
up
the
India
n
state
. The
Ame
rican
s
were
unle
ashi
ng a
new
gene
ratio
n of
wea
p-
ons
on a
Third
Worl
d
regi
me
to
whic
h
New
Delhi
had
been
close
; its
Sovi
et
frien
ds
were
stan
ding
by,
even
agre
eing
with
the
Ame
rican
s.Th
e
Iraqi
invas
ion
of
Kuw
alt
had
push
ed
up
oil
price
s
and
force
d the
India
n
Gov
ernm
entto
evac
uate
som
e
three
millio
n of
its
citize
ns
worki
ng in
the
Gulf.
The
extra
half-
billio
ndoll
ars
all
this
cost
India
was
push
ing
the
coun
try
close
to
defa
ult
on
its
forei
gn
debt.
Of
cials
from
the
Minis
try of
Fina
nce
were
alrea
dy
nego
tiatin
ga
bail-
out
from
the
IM