𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗘

(𝐴 𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑡𝑜 "𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑙𝑎𝑔-𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑟")

After the departure of a Parliamentary Committee in 1998, the bill from the five-star hotel where the delegation was accommodated was put up to me for sanction of payment. The consolidated bill for about Rs 1.75 lakh which was supported by room-wise bills had a mysterious item "Miscellaneous - Rs 485". This naturally intrigued me.

The officer who was coordinating the tamasha was summoned and I asked him for the details. As he drew a blank, I asked him to ascertain what it was all about.

A little later, he came and reported that the General Manager of the hotel was reluctant to disclose what it represented. I told him that in that case, I would pass the bill for payment after deducting Rs 485.

Then the General Manager of the hotel told me over telephone in strict confidence, "Sir, the guest in Room No 1109 seems to have packed the electric kettle (kept in the room) in his baggage."

It turned out that the honourable MP did not realise that he had taken only one half of the equipment with him. Little did he know that without the base unit screwed on to the table and connected through a thick black cable to the source of power, the half with him was just about as useful to him as a bicycle to a fish!

Curiosity got the better of me and I leafed through the supporting documents to see who the klepto was. For those who are curious to know the identity of the worthy people's representative who occupied Room No 1109, all I will say is that he later went on to occupy a ministerial chair.