Security wrangles Little more than a week after the suicide attack on Parliament, things have, very happily, moved back to normal. MPs remain as oblivious of security concerns as they are about the concerns of their country. So when the two houses met after the long weekend following Id, most parliamentarians reportedly were reluctant to show their ID cards at the gate. Even if the staff passed the test of identifying each of the 800 odd members, most of the legislators thought it unnecessary to go through the mandatory security check before entering the complex. The unconcern does not end here. Stickers with the mark 'MP', given to the legislators can still be found on vehicles which are not authorized to use them. Many MPs would still insist on bringing guests without getting the requisite entry passes for them, which meant even now strangers could roam the Parliament premises undetected. One could possibly guess the extent of contagion by one incident. A day or two after the attack on the legislature, the Delhi police on its drive against illegitimate users of red lights and flagmasts booked one vehicle for violation. It apparently belonged to the prime minister's office and was at the disposal of a middle-rung official. Another vehicle caught on the week-long drive belonged to a Union minister of state from Bihar. Yet another vehicle held by the police belonged to a small-time businessman from west Delhi. It not only had a beacon light on top, but also sported a Delhi assembly car pass sticker. On questioning our quintessential businessmen confessed that his neighbour, who is a minor official in the assembly secretariat, had got it for him. Assembly chalo? Someone's behind it all Another security problem. On December 13, while the fidayeens were at work in Parliament, someone had posted the army to guard the PM. When the national security advisor, Brajesh Mishra, tried to enter 7, Race Course Road, he was stopped dead in his tracks by army personnel. He was made to go back home and call the PM before being allowed entry. But who had done the dreadful thing that upset the SPG as much as it did Mishra? The PM feigned innocence. It turned out to be, allegedly, the handiwork of the raksha mantri, who, together with the home minister, forgot to inform the PM in the heat of the moment. The amendswere made with much alacrity. The army was withdrawn from PM's doors as soon as they were sent. Whose handiwork was that? In a blissful world Not everyone is moved by what is happening to the rest of the world. Among this lucky few is Mulayam Singh Yadav. In a recent discussion in Parliament about the attack, Yadav seems to have displayed a complete ignorance of world events. For one, he was thoroughly confused about the identity of the fugitive taliban leader, Mullah Omar. He mixed him up with our own minister of state for foreign affairs, Omar Abdullah. Again, while speaking of Israel, Mulayam wasn't sure whether it was with Palestine or Iraq that the former was engaged in a bloody battle. Surely, ignorance is bliss. Sharing a plate Political bliss in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee having bitten the dust, the Marxists and the saffronites seem to be cootchie-cooing. Whenever BJPwallahs like to meet the CM, they are given an appointment without fail. Before Id, a BJP delegation supposedly went up to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to tell him that they be made a part of whatever Buddha was planning to do and in exchange, they would help lobby for him in New Delhi. Fair enough. The CM seems to have immediately warmed up to the gesture and invited the saffronites to partake on Id some of the biriyani his chaffeur, Osman, made on the occasion and which he always had every year. The saffronites, Muzaffar Ali among them, were apparently floored. Hope the festivities continue forever. A different affair Festivity unlimited. Union parliamentary affairs minister, Pramod Mahajan, was a satisfied man at the end of the winter session of Parliament. Apart from bringing a semblance of unity between the opposition and the governmnt, he had played host to eight weddings, besides that of his daughter's, during the one month-long session. Pramod is a liberal man when it comes to lending out his premises to those who need it. According to him, each time a wedding took place, he felt as if he were bidding bidai to his own daughter. S Jaipal Reddy joined in while Pramod wallowed in affection. Yes, between the upper house and the lower house, Mahajan's white house had played its bit. Quite so? Change of chair Of fathers and sons. The entry of Jyotiraditya Scindia into the Congress was a big affair, so big that some mistook the celebration as one signalling the entry of Priyanka Gandhi. Some others turned the occasion to suit themselves. The scribes, for example. The D Day was when broken furniture and crockery came to the light, much to the delight of journos. Subbirami Reddy, AICC gen-sec, who has recently refurbished his own room with Italian wood and airconditioner, has been asked to look into the matter. But Reddy might hand it over to Motilal Vohra, known for his stinginess. Good luck, journos. Who's faking it? A new episode in Kyonki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. The producer of the serial, Ekta Kapoor, and the reel life brother of a leading actress in the serial are reported to be romantically involved. Or will it turn out to be another fake romance like a fake pregnancy? Footnote / Everything that is in her bag The PM was scheduled to go to Santiniketan and to meet him at the Calcutta airport were a bunch of people, among them didi with her inseparable jhola. Pandemonium broke out when the security tried searching her bag. She tried to convince whoever cared to listen that this was just one of the ways the state government was harassing her. And with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee present, it had to be a great Marxist plot. Her partymen were embarassed as they must have realized that in the security matters of the prime minister, the Marxists could not have had any say. Mamata Banerjee continued shrieking undaunted till she spotted Sudip Bandopadhyay. He was asked to look immediately into ways of getting the security officer transferred. Sudip quietly went away and apparently stood behind a group of men, then walked back to tell didi that he had found the officer in tears and rest assured, the man was on his way to Siberia. Even before Mamata could heed Sudip's advice, the rest of her political rivals were out of the airport, possibly without their bags.