Protocol drill that VVIPs have to follow can be at times very punishing. Consider this one. In March 1997, the Air India One carrying the then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda had just landed in Moscow. Gowda was on a state visit to Russia. Which meant that there would be a red carpet welcome and all accompanying protocol procedures that go with it. Just as the aircraft was to land, the pilot shared this information with everyone on the VVIP aircraft that the temperature outside was minus 15 degree Celsius. It was very windy as well.

Usually, Indian Prime Ministers dress appropriately for the winter months abroad.

But that was not the case with Gowda. He was wearing his trademark dhoti. Just a fur cap and a long leather overcoat is hardly the ideal protection against the harsh winter weather of Moscow.

However, such is the stringency of protocol procedures that before the Indian delegation, including the media, could sympathise with their Prime Minister’s plight, they had to silently watch him endure the 15-minute ordeal out in the open Moscow winter.

Gowda was literally shivering outside as he stood in attention during the formal welcome ceremony.

A contingent of media usually accompanies the Prime Minister or President whenever they travel abroad. It is fun, though travelling with the Prime Minister can at times be very demanding in terms of just trying to get that bit of extra information and also meeting deadlines back home.

On one such visit, it was pathetic watching a scribe get on the wrong side of the high-profile security.

In his eagerness to talk to the Prime Minister he appeared to be gone too close to the VVIP, prompting the elite security officer to plunge into action. In the next moment, this security officer held the scribe by his neck, yelled at him and pulled him. The scribe could do nothing about it, except suffer his humiliation silently.

However, you should consider yourself very fortunate if you ever had an opportunity to travel with A P J Abdul Kalam during his five-year presidency.

Kalam was the security and protocol officialdom’s nightmare as he was never really particular about sticking to protocol and security requirements. He would mingle with the scribes and others accompanying him. However, the interaction came with a price. He would suddenly ask at the end of a visit whether “you had learnt a lesson from the visit that could be useful for us in India.” If you didn’t have an answer right away he would insist on getting an answer later through an email — he would force you to think and reflect.

The worst perhaps is attending a Press interaction of the US President. During Bill Clinton’s visit in 2000 and President George W Bush’s visit in 2006, not many Indian officials or scribes liked the idea of being frisked and then screened by US security personnel after one had already gone through elaborate security checks by Indian security officials.

About the security screening, there have been unending speculations and talks just how much intrusive it could have been. Fortunately, it remains a matter of just speculation.