Chatting to a journalist at a recent National Day party in Colombo, a newly arrived high commissioner mentioned that she had not yet presented her credentials. "You'd better take along something to read at the credentials ceremony," advised the journalist. "Our president is notorious for keeping people waiting."
In fact, such is Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's habitual unpunctuality that the Colombo foreign office has re-arranged the credential presentation ceremonies so that arriving ambassadors will no longer have to cool their heels waiting for the president. Under the new arrangement, the envoys need not go to the presidential palace on the appointed day until summoned by phone. Till the call comes, they make small talk at their own residences with a government official who comes and sits with them.
During a two-day state visit to India in December, the 'victims' included Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Vice- President Krishna Kant. former prime minister I.K. Gujral, Home Minister L.K. Advani, captains of trade and industry religious leaders and the media.
"True to form—Chandrika does it again," proclaimed a prominently displayed front page piece in the Island when Kumaratunga returned to Colombo. The newspaper's New Delhi correspondent reported that Kumaratunga had kept a total of at least a thousand distinguished Indians waiting for her for varying periods of time during this visit. "Those who suffered in horrified silence—because of her astounding habit included some of the most important people in the land," the report said. Kumaratunga, whose signature smile is said to charm most people, was said by a Delhi paper to have left the Indian diplomatic establishment "red faced". Vajpayee was said to have been fortunate according to the paper—his wait was only of about 20 minutes