Soon after George W. Bush left the UN General Assembly, having told all that Saddam was a satan, the hall of world leaders imploded with noisy chatter, resembling a classroom of rowdies. The levitating loudness finally made Secretary General, Kofi Annan, lose his cool as he announced repeatedly for order. None paid heed. “How rude,” he uttered in disgust, throwing up his hands, “it’s incredible.” He was merely sharing his anger with the man seated beside him. Oops! the UN cameras and mikes, too, picked it up and innocently relayed it to the world.

Not a very august beginning, would you say, to the UN’s 57th session!

‘Gabfests’, that’s the name given to UN forums. Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the UN, ventilates his scorn for such moots: “Thousands of people gather, spending millions, even tens of millions of dollars. They preach to the converted, hash over long-standing differences and pass empty and grandiose resolutions. The money these conferences cost could better be spent directly on the problem being discussed.”

However, Musharraf’s trip got him great mileage! And how? On the day after Sept 11, when Bush came to address the UN General Assembly and Musharraf, too, was slated to speak, The New York Times pampered Pakistan’s President by carrying his full-page interview in their newly-introduced Perspectives segment. A ‘steely leader in a tinderbox land’ was the kicker to the story. He came across sincere and natural, as did his demeanour reflected in the jumbo-size portrait. While page one of the NYT had a sexy snapshot of the general — well not a teaser, exactly — but enough to titillate the readers’ interest to dig for him in the inner pages.

Free publicity, folks! Not bad at all.

Recall the scandalous sums frittered by the darling of the West, Benazir Bhutto’s information ministry hobbits, who paid thousands of dollars to advertise in the NYT whenever BB needed an image boost? Copycat Nawaz Sharif, a pygmy outside Pakistan, also never let an opportunity slide when it came to peddling his government abroad via the NYT ads while we, the taxpayers, picked up the tabs.

Another lolly awaited Musharraf when George W. wrote out a cheque for $300 million as a part of the $700 million that Pakistan loaned to the US (gosh, we must be loaded with greenbacks!) for its “Operation Enduring Freedom.” Our man here, Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, trumpeted that the Americans will soon return the other $400 million. What gobbledygook is this? Come again? Who is paying whom? How come Islamabad, with its begging bowl, has become the first to open an aid-to-America club? What a skewered scenario.

And here’s some more news of the weird, if you please: On 9/11, when the bell tolled to commemorate the first plane hitting the WTC, suddenly the sky parted and let shimmering sunbeams fall on the thousands gathered at Ground Zero.

Again, when the first name of the 2,801 fallen was called out, suddenly a gust of wind made people present look up. “It seems there are others here beside the mourners,” said Bill Hemmer of CNN, who, clinical as a reporter can get, could not but gulp and wonder aloud whether the heavens above were showered with spirits of the innocent thousands cut asunder a year ago.

But wait, that’s not the end: guess what the winning number of the New York lottery was on that day? 911! When the 3 levers were pressed to select from balls numbered zero to nine circulating in a machine at the lottery office, 9-1-1 came! Wall Street, too, had its shock in store when the Standard & Poor’s 500 futures contract closed at 911.00.

“It was bizarre, it was strange, but it wasn’t manufactured,” said Richard Canlione, vice president of institutional financial futures at Salomon Smith Barney, it was just the rules of coincidence... That’s just where the market was.”

This Sept 11 has etched itself in memory as a day of eloquent dignity displayed by thousands who lost a mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter or a friend. All stood straight and sombre. The emotions on their tear-stained faces will forever sear the mind. Indeed, they formed a collective portrait of pain suffered with stoic dignity not often seen.

As the afternoon was winding down, lending shadows of sadness and the frenzied wind whipping up a gale, there stood President George W. and Laura Bush, 70 feet below street level, come to share their grief with the family members.

And the next two hours that followed should indeed make every world leader ponder how it is to be human. To really care. Treading ever so slowly, ever so softly... thus began the president’s longest journey...along the throng of weepy, anguished and unbearably sad. Moving haltingly, Bush shook thousands of hands, bent hundreds of times to gently kiss hundreds of cheeks, hugged, patted and murmured words of comfort many thousand times over, autographed and stood with those who wanted to be snapped with him...the man was just not in any hurry.

Surrendering to the needs of those who wanted to be comforted by their commander-in-chief, beautiful it was to see Bush treat women with supreme respect, soft spontaneity while joining in each individual’s personal loss.

When a leader rises to the challenge and is not afraid of shedding tears along with his people, it’s a good feeling. The people Bush touched that day went away healed, ready for closure and prepared to face the next day. Bush Jr. makes his dad proud for the human touch that God gave him. And how did he come by such a gift? It is said that when he woke up the next day after celebrating his 40th birthday bash, he suffered from the worst hangover ever — the guy was a confirmed alcoholic who just could not stop boozing. But at that very moment, George W. swore that he would never touch a drop of liquor ever and thereby hangs his tale....

Nawaz Sharif, for all his faults, too, displayed a human touch. We watched him hug rape victims, hold their hands and swear to see justice done. MNS’s sorrow was real, not put on for political expediency. Can’t say the same for BB.

Attending an interfaith meeting at my local Islamic Centre on 9/11, I was struck by the beauty and serenity of a woman with a priest’s collar. Stephanie Weshered is a wife and a mother of three. She’s also the Reverend at St John’s Episcopal Church and holds a degree in divinity from Yale. Her husband is a Wall Street investment broker. Stephanie — that’s what she prefers being called — comes to the centre whenever invited to speak, always leaving behind a humane face of her religion.

Present also was the local police chief, the mayor of the town and the Jewish Rabbi. All said they had come to express solidarity with the Muslims. They sat respectfully when the azaan was called out and men offered their maghrib prayers in the same room.

This is America...a Diaspora where diversity, race and religion come into play. And more recently, even gender. The NYT broke away from tradition this week to print photos of newly-married couples of the same sex! Yes, staring from the pages were two lovely women doctors — one from Harvard and the other from Penn University — affirming their partnership in a commitment ceremony. And there were these two smiling men: Lione 47, of Newsweek magazine declaring his commitment to Leonard, 38, a mathematician.