Eating Out

Sangeeta Singh Deo looks good enough to feature on the menu, in mirchi-red and pearls.A quick glance down the list of tongue-twisters and she opts to wrap hers around aPomodoro fresco e mozzarella bocconcini con pestor olive basilico pomodori sechhi,for starters. I opt for a plain old caesar salad.

La Piazza’s not the most politically correct choice of eatery for a bjp MP, shesays. It’s OK, I tell her, Sharad Pawar served pasta at dinner after he putta deknife in de signora’s back. Crisp garlic bread and little bowls of olive oil appear.“Got to pay for this with dragon breath later,” says Sangeeta, resistingtemptation.

The low lighting and Placido Domingo trigger memories of her Roman holiday; Pavarottiperforming against a backdrop of floodlit Roman ruins. All I can think of is futile wishesand wasted lira at the Fontana di Trevi. Crunching lettuce, we unravioli Sangeeta’slineage. The thakur political network is truly awesome—every other MP is kaka ordada, party no bar, pairi pauna bar-bar. Uncle K.P. Singh Deo is the closest, family andgeography-wise, but she’s also related to Andhra Pradesh ex-MP (and raja ofParvathipuram) Kishore Chandra Deo, Patiala’s maharani and MP Praneet Kaur, MadhyaPradesh MP Dalip Singh Judev, prince of Jashpur and ex-MP Natwar Singh. JaswantSingh’s sons call her jija (elder sister).

Sangeeta knows her way around the menu, La Piazza being a favourite haunt. She passeson the wine, declines the duty manager’s offer of advice from the chefand—vegetarian for a day—asks for ravioli (Raviolone di ricotta con olive epomodori sechhi) in tomato basil sauce. I go with the canelloni (Canelloni di ricottagratinati). The food rates an unqualified “yum”. Flavoursome and masala-free(Italian cuisine as it’s meant to be), but we make up for that with hot-hot politicalgossip: cross-dressers, second wives and who-hates-who.

From there, we move on to her political colleagues, from best buddy Suresh Kalmadi toup-and-coming Rajiv Pratap ‘Rudi’ Singh. She tends to look at everybody’sgood side—Madhavrao Scindia’s a nice guy with a great sense of humour(!), PramodMahajan’s an awesomely charismatic speaker, cassettes of whose speeches sell “inblack”(!!), Naveen Patnaik is a dedicated bloke doing an awfully good job as chiefminister(!!!).

Sternly quelling her sweet tooth, Sangeeta asks for a cappuccino and after atiramisu-centred struggle with my conscience, I follow suit. She talks of things personal:how Biju-da encouraged her, as grand-daughter-in-law of former Orissa CM R.N. Singh Deo,to take the electoral plunge, her fear of flying (alone) and why party-hoppingdoesn’t mean you’re a dumb brunette. Conversation, needless to say, far outlaststhe coffee.