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When Gates relished 'seekh kabab'

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Microsoft chief Bill Gates was due to arrive in New Delhi at 21:00 hours IST on Wednesday, but, due to security reasons, came half an hour earlier and surprised the Maurya Sheraton hotel management. And, this is not the first time he had done this.

All vehicles in the hotel parking lot were forced outside. "We had to resort to this as he is under threat and we would not want our guest to be harassed by anyone," a top official of the hotel told rediff.com.

For security reasons, the cordon around him did not even allow the hotel's photographers to take pictures of him.

An unassuming business tycoon, Gates decided to stroll around the hotel on Thursday morning, for a feel of the place. Dressed in casuals, he spent almost half an hour around, before returning to his suite Sheraton Taj.

"He ate dinner in his suite on Wednesday night. He had shikanpuri kababs, koe awvad, Peshawari bara kabab, chicken reshmi, a papaya and drank Diet Coke. He is very fond of Indian food. Three years back, he had stayed in the same room and had remarked: 'Thank you for your good hospitality. Your service was wonderful and I enjoyed my visit'," said an official.

Gates does not like spicy food. He is businessman to the core when it comes to dealing with guests. As he relished murg biryani, along with paneer pasanda, seekh kabab along with malai phirani, Gates talked to 10 chief ministers, a governor and others, who came to meet him over lunch.

He made a brief presentation to the guests and impressed upon them to switch over to e-governance after e-commerce. He also listened to all presentations during the luncheon meeting at the Bali-Hi restaurant.

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