varanasi after a soulful onehour at dasaswamedhghat japanese prime minister shinzo abe must have been prepared for more of indian culture as he left to attend prime minister narendramodis banquet at varanasi it was indeed more culture on show but to abes pleasant surprise there was a japanese edge to it the opening act of the ministry of external affairs predinner cultural programme was an odissi recital but performing the indian dance was a japanese artiste who has been taking deeksha in the classical art form in india for seven years now the act presenting the cultural confluence of the two countries appeared to impress the vvip visitor and he later spent a few minutes chatting with the dancer from his country then there was a painting performance where an artist painted the ganga and a japanese river followed by cultural performances including the recital of sanskrit shlokas indianwestern fusion music invocations to the ganga in bhojpuri and a presentation based on the theme of vasudhaiva kutumbakam the world is one family the select gathering retreated to the lawns of the nadesar palace hotel for dinner where some of the invitees told toi that they were served a vegetarian fare including the traditional banarasi chaat aloo tikiya and shaami kebabs and a thalimeal comprising poori kadhi mirch ka achaar aloo methi ki subzi shimla mirch ki kalaunji and pulao for dessert the delicacies on offer included malpuas imarti rabdi and fresh fruits served on skewers while up governor ram naik and chief minister akhilesh yadav occupied pride of place at modis table the rest of the guests including the prime ministers cabinet colleagues were seated in groups of five on the hotel lawns among those present were varanasi industrialist rk chaudhary sulabh internationals bn chaturvedi and former bjp mlc ashok thawan while samajwadi party chief mulayam singh yadav had been invited he was unable to attend sources said some others guests were also unable to attend because there had been a delay in dispatching guest passes for the event from new delhi that perhaps left the only sour taste in the mouth