His propensity to speak out of turn, to speak too much and sometimes to speakat all was a regular cause of headaches in South Block. As he flubbed, theyflushed, explaining, rationalising, seeking indulgence from journalists. Duringlast year’s UN General Assembly, Natwar Singh decided to "add" a fewcomments on India’s bid for the UN Security Council seat after the primeminister had already answered the question during the end-of-the-trip pressconference. The "add" turned into a full-fledged lecture on the Africanposition, the European position and the rest. The row of stone-faced diplomatssitting near by grew more and more alarmed with each passing minute and finallyeven the prime minister looked mildly irritated to have his foreign ministertake over the stage. The press conference had to end with that one"add" from Natwar Singh sincethere was no more time left.