Having absorbed the shock, he started his mental ‘kalabazi’ regarding the protocol formalities which have to be observed for the state funeral. Omi had been involved in the arrangements of the earlier funerals of the two Prime Ministers. Even if he was now retired, then what? The 7-year itch does not go easily. This was a field in which he had gained expertise on procedure and practice. But then he must wait to be ‘called’.

At 11.30 p.m., Omi received a call from the Chief of Protocol, MEA, asking him to be in readiness for duty. Some important decisions were conveyed at 12.30 a.m. and he was asked to man the Protocol Post at Ashoka Hotel for receiving VIPs arriving for the PM’s funeral.

As a first step, occupants were requested to vacate Ashoka and move to alternate accommodation. This was essential from security considerations. Everyone else left the hotel except the Argentinean Air Chief who was on an official visit to India. The Air Chief requested that he may be allowed to continue for a few more hours as he was leaving the hotel at 6 a.m., for the airport. This was agreed as an exception. The security took over the hotel for checking and sanitizing the hotel premises thoroughly.

In view of the recent instances of terrorism, army commandos were involved. The Black Cat Guards-SPG took over their assignments. As a precautionary exercise, some SPG men in their black dungaree — outfits, slipped down ropes from the top of the hotel with the machine guns tied to their waist. While all rooms were being checked, two SPG men landed in the Argentinean Chief’s corridor. They could not understand why he was there and broke the Chief’s window pane and stormed into his room as ‘target spot’.

The VIP guest almost got a cardiac attack thinking that a coup d’etat had taken place in the country and that his room has been raided by advancing soldiers. He ran out of his room, asking for help. When finally told that it was a slight slip on the part of SPG, he crossed his chest, felt great relief and instantly vacated the room. Even the last innocuous ‘intruder’ had been cleared and the entire hotel was at security’s complete command.

The tough part of the logistics was getting 125 VIP cars to go to the hurriedly prepared cremation ground — ‘Indira Sthal’. While others were busy in preparation of the ‘Sthal’, Omi got busy in firming up arrangement for taking VIPs to that place and bringing them back.

A bright idea solved the problem or made the situation completely manageable. VIPs would be taken in Flag cars to Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium where they would park their cars. And from there, they would get into 10 buses to the cremation ground. It was a good plan that would stand the test well at that time. But there was one big hitch.

The anti-Sikh riots had started and most of the Sikh drivers along with buses had either gone to neighbouring states or were lying low. It became impossible to locate 10 buses. Finally, 4 air conditioned and 6 ordinary buses were readied for the occasion at the midnight hour.

Madhuri Gupta, an assistant volunteered to take dictation in long hand, cut the stencils and roll out hundred of copies for being sent to foreign embassies. ‘Tau’ Surinder Dixit and ‘Kaka’ Dharamvir Mohan, ace assistants of the ministry also rushed to the Ashoka for important supplementary contributions.

‘Note Verbals" were handed over to 5 MEA drivers to be personally delivered at embassy gates. Each one was given responsibility of 20-30 embassies. The circulars were to be given to the security guards at the embassy gates or merely thrown in.

Two interesting incidents need to be mentioned here. A young Sikh chauffeur, who was most enthusiastic and willing volunteer, was caught by the security hidden behind entry- point at the Chinese Embassy. When noticing that he had thrown a bundle inside their premises, these guards feared that the Sikh driver had ‘missiled’ a bomb-like thing. The Sikh driver was quick to contact MEA ‘control room’ in Ashoka. It took our protocol men 15 minutes to satisfy the curiosity of security guards of that embassy. The driver had shown his identity card and that he was driving an official car of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Another incident of this kind was of Delhi Police ACP on duty who insisted: "I am police officer. My country needs me at this hour and I cannot shun the righteous path of duty. I don’t care if anybody else thinks in any other funny way that I am ‘Sikh’". Similarly two Sikh chauffeurs performed their duties honourably in commuting VIPs to the cremation ground and back, thus keeping country’s image and ‘flag flying high’.

All arrangements had proceeded well as per schedule. The foreign VIPs were arriving by chartered buses. It was interesting to see four former American Ambassadors to India arriving together. The non air-conditioned bus in which this delegation travelled would have qualified for inclusion in the vintage rally or put in American Museum in Detroit!

Omi stayed back, a bit fatigued but satisfied. He decided: why not wait in the wings? Meanwhile, a Defence Ministry car with tinted glasses halted. The car door opened. K.P. Singh Deo, the then Minister of Defence, came out and affectionately patted Omi. Deo knew Omi from his Protocol days) and said: "Come with me... we will stay in the corner". Probably for a chit-chat!

To stay back was a good decision because after a gap of 15 minutes a small group of ladies belonging to the Scandinavian Royal Family were spotted looking for transport. The Defence Minister’s car came handy and they were escorted to the stadium where their vehicles were parked. For Deo and Omi, only one bus was left which would not start easily. Both of them pushed the bus along with other people. It started somehow and they came to I.G. Stadium.

For the Protocol, the arrival and return of foreign VIPs was uneventful and moved on dotted lines as per drill. Their satisfaction: "with no prior time available, they had done faultless planning and executed well". (Foreign agencies report)