Jasmine garlands, royal headgear for Yang, Lavrov

By Fakir Balaji, Bangalore, Oct 27 : The foreign ministers of China and Russia got a royal welcome in India's IT city.

Minutes before the two-hour long trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers began here Tuesday morning, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna received his counterparts Sergei Lavrov of Russia and China's Yang Jiechi, by welcoming them with huge garlands of fragrant jasmine and marigold.

After warm handshakes, Krishna 'crowned' Lavrov and Yang by placing the famous Mysore peta (headgear) on them and posed for photographs.

The Mysore peta is the traditional headgear worn by royals of the erstwhile Mysore rulers in royal court and on important occasions, especially during the world famous Dasara festival.

Dressed in dark blue band-gala suit, Krishna then escorted Lavrov and Yang to the meeting in the royal ballroom of the seven-star Leela Palace on the Old Airport road.

Befitting the occasion, the tables for the meeting were also arranged in triangular shape, with the foreign ministers seated at the centre of each table along with his senior officials.

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Translation woes

Translators and interpreters had a hectic time during the trilateral meeting, jotting notes profusely and conveying the points made by the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers to Krishna in English, in Russian to Lavrov and in Chinese to Yang.

The ritual repeated itself at the joint press conference. Translations from Russian and Chinese to English took much of the time, with no time left for questions by journalists.

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Tibetans sneak protests

As the three foreign ministers were engrossed in the brainstorming session behind closed doors on the first floor of the Leela Palace hotel, two unidentified Tibetan protesters managed to sneak into the high-security area, carrying a placard with Yang's picture.

They were, however, pounced upon by the hotel security staff and handed over to the police. Within minutes they were whisked away from the hotel to ensure there was no commotion.