Vignettes from the last meeting between an Indian leader and Fidel Castro provided rare confirmation of some of the legends about the charismatic revolutionary, which made him larger than life from the age of six till 90, when he died on Friday night.

Ignoring advice from his doctors, Fidel had met Hamid Ansari for 65 minutes on October 31, 2013, on the penultimate day of the Vice-President's visit to Cuba. The only other similarly long meeting that Fidel has had with any foreign leader since illness forced him from public appearances and active politics ten years ago was with his dear friend and protégé, the late Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

As the meeting with Ansari got under way, Fidel preferred to talk not about politics which has been in his veins since his teens when he coaxed impoverished and overly exploited cane-cutters in his father's sugarcane plantation to go on strike. Fidel, passionate as ever even at 87 then, talked passionately to the visiting Indians about gardening, his latest hobby, and about horticulture.

The Vice-President who had known Fidel since 1983 when he came to India - Ansari was his chaperone as chief of protocol - could only wearily listen. C. Rajasekhar, India's ambassador then, had endeared himself to everyone he had met in Cuba from communist functionaries to the common man but he could only remain silent while the commander-in-chief of the Cuban revolution held forth about his hobbies in retirement.

Suddenly, Salma Ansari, wife of the Vice-President, broke into the dialogue. Like Fidel, she too was in no mood to steer the conversation towards politics. Salma wanted to know about what the entire world has talked for more than half a century: Fidel's way with women.

Is it true, Salma asked Fidel, that he has been a favourite, an instant hit with women? Is it true that there has been a multitude of women in his life? Words to that effect.

Ansari, the quintessential diplomat, sat emotionless and without expression, as if nothing had happened as his wife dropped the huge brick. Some others in the Indian delegation shifted uneasily, not knowing where to look.

The Cuban leader smiled benignly at India's Second Lady. Her Cuban hosts waited in trepid anticipation for Fidel's reaction. But through the silence everyone was curious about what Fidel would say about one of the most talked about - behind his back - and exceptionally exciting aspects about the Cuban revolutionary's life.

Fidel was silent for a long time, dreamy and wistful as if a series of tableaux from his personal life were passing through his inner self. He smiled once again, this time to himself, with a visibly deep sense of contentment, and told Salma very slowly. "When I was young, I was lucky." He repeated: "Yes, I was very lucky."

The tension eased. Everyone relaxed and Ansari resumed his conversation with Fidel as if he had just woken up from a fit of sudden sleep or a faint. But in those two sentences Fidel confirmed everything that had been said about the many hearts he had captured.

None of the countless books written about the Cuban revolution and its architect that I have read has any anecdote about anyone confronting Fidel about his women. Yet, it has been an inalienable part of most discussions anywhere in the world about him. There is no man who has not been envious of Fidel's way with women, the stuff of legends. Women who have never met Fidel have lapped up stories about his exploits with their kind.

Over the years, Fidel's name has been romantically linked - without any evidence - with at least one very senior living woman politician in India, who was exceptionally attractive when she was younger, and at least one journalist of Indian ancestry when she used to visit Cuba regularly. In fact, it used to be said that for a regime that did not like western journalists, this lady journalist got her visas without any hardship because everyone in Havana knew that Fidel enjoyed her visits to the island.

At a time when it is fashionable to think that New Delhi's future is in an alliance with the West, especially with Washington, the parting tribute to Fidel is an unambiguous promise by India's incumbent political dispensation to continue with gusto its friendship with Cuba, which goes back to the successful revolution by Fidel and Che Guevara.

Cuba, to repeated bouts of disappointment among Miami's exile Cuban American community, has an organised political succession plan in the varied colours of its revolution. The change from Fidel to his brother Raul was smooth.

Raul, unlike many communist rulers who are heads of state for life, plans to step down in 2018. His successor is expected to be Miguel Díaz-Canel, now the country's First Vice-President.

When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, the idea germinated in some circles which have memories of India's traditional friendship with Cuba that the likely successor should be invited and treated like a head of government in terms of access in New Delhi as a way of continuing the friendship with Havana into the next generation.

The external affairs ministry, sadly - perhaps typically - was unenthusiastic. Some officials, who assumed that their future - and lucrative postings - lay in pandering to Modi's perceived closeness to Washington, shot down the idea.

Luckily, one of the promoters of this idea had an opportunity to put it across to Modi directly. He suo motu said he would receive Díaz-Canel personally when he visits New Delhi. Suddenly, the MEA, like a chameleon, changed colours and it was all red carpet for the Cuban First Vice-President.

But fate had more tests for India's friendship with Cuba. Díaz-Canel was connecting in Doha for his onward flight to Delhi and his arrival in Doha was delayed. When Modi was told about the delay, he said he would meet the Vice-President anyway even if his arrival was delayed and was prepared to change his itinerary.

Luckily, it was not necessary. Cuban doctors are the unpublicised backbone of Qatar's health-care system - like in Venezuela during the good times under Chavez - and in Doha airport, orders went out that the Qatar Airways flight to Delhi should be delayed until Díaz-Canel's flight arrived to take his connection to India.

Modi put on track avenues for future cooperation with Cuba, much to the surprise of sceptics on India-Cuba relations.

This newspaper has reported Fidel's fascination with Indian drumsticks, muringa, and its medicinal properties. Last month, Fidel insisted on Cuban participation in a global conference on muringa as his final contribution to his association with India.

The writer was in Cuba earlier this year