We know what you are doing this summer...

With the Indian heat and dust gettingunbearable, it''s time for our politcos to take to cooler climes. There''s alwaysenough justification for a foreign tour. finds out who''s goingwhere this summer and for whatThis is the mother of all junkets. Theminister of state for external affairs Digvijay Singh is leading a 70-memberdelegation for a Hindi Sammelan to Surinam. The delegation whichleaves on June 5, includes not just Hindi poets and writers, politicians,bureaucrats. Even petty clerks have hopped on to the bandwagon. Nobody wants tomiss this exotic destination.The list of delegates was recentlyincreased after the intervention of the prime minister, Digvijay Singh revealed.Reason? Vajpayee wanted that writers and literatteurs from other regionallanguages be included in the delegation."We are going to celebratethe arrival of the first Indian in Surinam 130 years ago on this same day. TheUS and UK may have larger NRI populations but it is in countries such asTrinidad, Mauritius and Fiji where Hindi can be heard on the streets," saidDigvijay Singh, who is delighted at being provided with an opportunity ofchairing this meet.And, why not, considering it is the Ministry ofExternal Affairs which is footing the bill for the majority of delegates hoppingover to Surinam. Singh hastily explains, "Most of the delegates are travellingin the economy class. We are not paying for the 10 Parliamentarians on thistrip, who will travel in first class. Their own parliamentary office will pickup their tab."For most people going there, this is one moreopportunity to do some ghoomna phirana — I still do not know whatpropagation of Hindi can we expect to do in Surinam?" says Dinanath Mishra, BJPMP in Rajya Sabha, on his way back, Singh will stop over in Cuba, New York andLondon, hoping for a tete-e-tete with the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He willreturn after June 20.Latin America seems to be the flavour of seasonwhat with external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha also leaving for Brazil onJune 2 to attend a three-nation foreign minister meet from where he will go toLima.Sushma Swaraj, just back from Geneva, after attending the WorldHealth meet is packing her bags once again. She will lead a 20-memberparliamentary goodwill delegation to Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania from June6-12. The Indo-US Parliamentary Forum led by BJP MP V P Badnoor and co-chairedby Congress MP Kapil Sibal left for New York on May 30. While theofficial meetings will continue up to June 8, several members of this group planto use this opportunity to travel further.Lok Sabha speaker ManoharJoshi will visit Lisbon later this month, while Pramod Mahajan returns on Sundayafter a trip to Boswanna. Mahajan had earlier this year led another 22-member''parliamentary delegation'' to Cai-ro, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban with astopover at Dubai. Mahajan succeeded in taking the group even thoughVajpayee had himself rejected the plan twice.Not everyone possessesMahajan''s persuasive skills. Forty-five MPs, who are part of the StandingCommittee of External Affairs, are sulking as they are being denied permissionto make a foreign trip since the last two years. This, despite that fact thatthey took their plea right up to the Prime Minister. K C Pant was in London twoweeks ago for the Indo-UK round-table meet, chaired by Swaraj Paul.Another member of the Planning Commission, N K Singh, was in Cannesrecently for the film festival. He is now on his way to Stratford on the westcoast of US.Petroleum minister Ram Naik back from Sri Lanka afterinaugurating Indian Oil petrol pumps is ready to take off for London, Houstonand Perth for road shows to invite bids for oil exploration. Naik''soffice justifies: "A minister going on a roadshow can hardly be described as ajunket." Manohar Joshi is heading for Lisbon this month, whileinformation and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad back from London viaCannes has winged his way to Thailand to attend a media conference.