Sunday, August 26, 2001		VIP Toon Tales

THE PLO leader and the head of the Palestinian state, Yasser Arafat, has paid several visits to Delhi to strengthen the relationship between India and Palestine. He held a press conference in Delhi during one of his visits. There was tight security around him and it was difficult to go near him. I tried hard to approach him but to no avail. The only course open to me was to address him and find what the result would be. I stood up during the conference and addressed him, ‘Your Excellency, here is a sketch of yours which I would like to present to you’. As he heared my request, he immediately called me. The result was that the security men allowed me to go up to him. Arafat stood up from his chair and embraced me in his Arab fashion to plant a kiss on my cheek and acknowledge the ‘sketch’ with his autograph. He took a similar one to carry home.