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An Argentine diplomat blew a whistle in a New Delhi nightclub one evening last week. Results: most of the protocol officers in India's foreign office lost their Saturday afternoon holiday, armed policemen were called out to patrol the Imperial Hotel, a bearded Briton was booked for assault and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru found himself in the midst of an international incident.

The whistle was one of those which nightclub owners the world over love to pass out to their customers. Tootled shrilly by Argentine Ambassador Oscar Tascherest in the Imperial's supper club, it profoundly irritated the girl companion of a young British ex-officer named John Edwards. The Briton suggested that the Argentine desist. When Tascherest ignored the suggestion, Edwards took a tumbler of water and dropped a tiny trickle on the ambassador's head "to cool him off a bit." Tascherest retaliated by hurling a highball, with glass, at Edwards. "I thought then," explained Edwards later, "that he just wanted to play, so I got a pitcher of water, said, 'here, catch,' and tossed it into his lap."

From that point on, the situation deteriorated. A hot argument in French, Italian, English and Spanish raged through the corridors. Police were called. Everyone concerned, except the outraged ambassador, who refused to budge on grounds of diplomatic immunity, was hustled off to the local police station. Ambassador Tascherest, convinced that it was a deep-dyed political plot, next day lodged a diplomatic protest with Prime Minister Nehru.