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Confinement irks PM

"Arre, aap bhejo logon ko... aane do. Kam se kam phone pe baat karao. Bandh karke rakha hai aapne mujhe! (Please let the people meet me. At least let me talk to them on the phone. You have imprisoned me here)," is what a perky prime minister is reported to have said. At least, that's what his well-wishers at Breach Candy Hospital, Bombay, are saying this morning.

On the third day after the surgery to replace his osteoarthritis-affected left knee, his doctors -- New York based surgeon Dr Chitranjan S Ranawat and Chief Physician, Breach Candy Hospital, Dr Farokh Udwadia -- report themselves satisfied with his progress. He even took several steps with the help of a walker and his physiotherapists.

Six floors down, in the Out Patient Department-converted-into-visitors' waiting room, former Rajasthan chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekawat ribs member of Parliament Madanlal Khurana, "You too have a knee problem, don't you? Why don't you get yourself operated?"

Both BJP leaders are none too happy about the fact that they have not been allowed to meet the prime minister. Khurana, in particular, indicated as much in the visitors's message book, "Darshan karne aya tha paranthu nahi ho payi... (I came to see you, but that could not happen...)"

Khurana, who made a day trip to the metropolis to visit the prime minister, said he would be returning to Delhi in the evening. Shekawat will be in Bombay for another day, since he is scheduled to undergo some medical tests at Bombay Hospital.

The air-conditioned out patients department-converted-into-VIP visitors' room is beginning to resemble an up-market flower shop, what with exotic bouquets piling at every corner. Towering over the others was a double-tiered orchid display from Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh as a symbol of her "very best wishes for your early and complete recovery."

"This evening," says city BJP vice president Mangal Prabhat Lodha, "we will ask the prime minister what should be done with the bouquets."

The prime minister, in the meanwhile, continues to receive a stream of messages, flowers, cards, telegrams, e-mails, coconuts and gifts -- including shawls, angavastrams and inspirational sayings. He even received a box of different flavoured Natural ice-creams from a well-wisher, who had heard of Vajpayee's sweet tooth.

The prime minister also continues to receive wishes from children, many of whom have taken a great deal of trouble to decorate and colour their cards and letters. While seven-year-old Shreeda Mehta wants the PM to become well soon so that she can see him on television again, nine-year-old Alaviya Rizvi wants the prime minister to visit her when he is discharged from the hospital.

"Come to my house for my birthday party," says her letter. "My friends will also come. I will show you to them. We will have cake."

She also knows the prime minister has met Bill Clinton -- "I like him because he is very fit," she says -- and wants the prime minister to "tell him hi from me" when he speaks to the president of the United States next. But, according to Pramod Mahajan, there has been no call from the White House as yet, "Not to my knowledge at least."

Outside the hospital, Bombay has been temporarily paralysed by a civic strike over bonus payments to the Bombay Municipal Corporation workers. Most taps in the city have run dry and hundreds of Bombayites blocked traffic on the roads in protest.

"We don't anticipate any water problem," said a hospital spokesperson. "After all, the prime minister is here."

A few yards ahead though, women from the nearby slums were spotted filling pots of water from a tanker. The only smile on their faces came thanks to Laurel and Hardy dancing outside the newly opened Toys' Kemp.

The PM's surgery: The full coverage

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