The world's largest political, commercial and intellectual 'schmoozefest' as it has been dubbed among other things, has had the finest and most rarefied of all flavours, this year around. Distinctly Indian!
The World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual international summit on the Alpine slopes of Davos, in minus 18 degrees Celsius temperatures notwithstanding, had the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) together with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Tourism and the India Brand Equity Foundation, ready with a 'Brand India' master plan. 'India Fastest Growing Free Market Democracy' on billboards, greeted delegates and tourists alike, even as they landed at Zurich Airport. And India continued to reign on the mindscape of the five-day event, as presented by a high powered, 115 member delegation led by the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram himself and including Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. This year's business delegation included 'young' India, the country's business elite - Reliance's Mukesh Ambani; Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director, Mahindra and Mahindra; Nandan Nilekani of Infosys;
Yogi Deveshwar of ITC; S. Ramadorai from TCS. The cream of the India delegation immediately points to a revitalising of Image India, a refocusing of energies in the country's hardsell.
And of course, that rarefied strata of glamour India, icons and country ambassadors in themselves, were present. Nita Ambani who endorses Indian style in her beautifully crafted ensembles, Anuradha Mahindra who makes a mission of showcasing the best of local couture, Parmeshwar Godrej, the closest one can get to India-Diva status…all in all, brand India at its finest.

The World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting is always held at Davos except for the two years that it was held in New York to express solidarity with the Americans, post 9/11. It is not so much a meeting as it is an amazing blend of knowledge and unbridled fun. Which is why Davos this year was no less an amalgamation of the world's most influential who were seized with issues ranging from the global economy to the revival of Africa. From sessions which ranged from powering a digital economy to those which addressed the issues of happiness, in business and beyond. India was truly everywhere. The India Everywhere campaign mounted by CII and its supporting corporate patrons was the pièce de résistance and it brought to bear the emerging mindsets in India, focused on business and on entering the domain of the developed world with alacrity and precision. For me personally, Davos was a unique experience; it bared the humaneness of hard-nosed CEOs, it threw light on the qualitative work that is being done across the world by NGOs and the fact that we had no protesters is a tribute to the policy of inclusion that Klaus Schwab and his World Economic Forum professes in the manner in which the world of NGOs was included to discuss the core theme of this year's meeting, The Creative Imperative. There are two ways of enjoying Davos. One is you do nothing during the day and then party at night or do things like attending sessions which have people like Bill Gates and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor to Bono the U2 rock-star and then make sure you are ready to party at night. There were several high points in Davos this year. Most of them centred around the Indian contingent which boasted of people like P. Chidambaram, Kamal Nath and Montek Singh Ahluwalia from the Government to Mukesh Ambani, Nandan Nilekani, Yogi Deveshwar, Adi Godrej and Anand Mahindra from business, to Shobhana Bhartia and Aroon Purie from the media. There were the unattached stars as well and prime among them were people like N K Singh and of course the venerable Tarun Das from the CII. On the sidelines, but still in the eye of everything were the spouses: from the publisher of this magazine, Anu Mahindra to the ever-charming Parmeshwar Godrej to the refreshingly demure and elegant Rekha Mallya.

I took in as much as I could during Davos. There are very few options when the temperature at night is minus 18 degrees Celsius and during the day a warm minus three degrees Celsius. If there is one thing you need to learn at Davos, it is how you tread on snow. The chief minister of Kerala thought he was walking in Kovalam and slipped and broke his hip, a minor problem, which had him laid up in a hospital bed for a week. Which is why my tryst with Davos began with the Bally shoe shop in the heart of the city, where I was gifted a fur-lined pair of snow boots by N K Singh. I was not the only recipient of his largesse; Shobhana Bhartia too was the focus of his generosity.

The first evening was just fun and more fun. I attended the opening reception of the WEF, hosted by its founder and visionary, Klaus Schwab and from there went off to attend a raclette dinner hosted by Collete Mathur of the WEF for the Indians. The next day was when it all began. The Opening Plenary Session saw an amazingly confident and sharply focused Mukesh Ambani talk about the challenges ahead and I loved his phrase of a super cycle of 20 years. Mukesh was easily the star of the Indian contingent. He spoke with a sobriety which is generally missing amongst corporate leaders, he replaced fluff with serious content and the fact that he was co-chair of the Summit only added further to both his personal stature as also to Brand India. The plenary was packed and conducted by Nik Gowing of the BBC.

There were other Indian stars as well. I thought Chidambaram and Kamal Nath were both outstanding in every session that they spoke at. I particularly liked the stance that Chidambaram took during the session that addressed the Global Economic Agenda. Where he was pitted against Larry Summers, President of Harvard University and former US Secretary of the Treasury and Jean-Claude Trichet, the Governor of the Central Bank of Europe. Chidambaram's perspective of capital flowing from developing economies to developed economies set the packed Kongress Hall thinking and was an interesting insight into the weakening economic hegemony that America has enjoyed till date.

I also attended a one-on-one session with President Pervez Musharraf and dragged Shobhana Bhartia to it as well where Shobhana asked the good General a question that made him wince, a question on human rights in Baluchistan and the gas pipeline. On my part, I asked him why, since he was so fond of Rani Mukherjee, he wasn't legitimising the entry of Bollywood into Pakistan. The General handled the questions with an adroitness that would put our leaders to shame. There was always a smile and a gentle nudge, never any form of harshness or an attempt to deflect.

The evenings were however the special moments of joy. Deutsche Bank hosted a very special reception as did Infosys. Nandan Nilekani ensured there were at least 50 of the Fortune 100 CEOs in attendance and I had a great time catching up with Tom Friedman of The World is Flat fame. And, in Davos, it surely did look like a flat world. You would, at an average, bump into the likes of Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their ilk. N K Singh hosted a charming dinner where he had the 'Indian Dream Team' in attendance as also some real global honchos - from the CEO of Boston Consulting to that of Ernst & Young to the former foreign minister of Japan to Larry Summers and Strobe Talbot - which is why I am convinced that the most networked Indian at Davos is N K by far. Mukesh and Nita Ambani, Anand and Anu Mahindra, Sunil and Naina Mittal and I were at the same table and I have never seen a table as raucous and as funny as the one I saw that evening: while N K was hosting the powers that be, we were having our own little party.

Then there was the finale which began with the presentation of the Crystal Awards and my childhood icon, Muhammad Ali was there, courage personified. As was our very own Shabana Azmi and Hollywood's Michael Douglas. Post the awards was a concert which featured movements from Beethoven and Mozart after which Mukesh, Nita and I got into Mukesh's car and headed off for drinks that were being hosted by Parmesh (Parmeshwar) and Adi (Godrej) at their hotel. Mukesh gallantly offered his car to the three ladies and Anand, he and I jumped into Anand Mahindra's Scorpio (now this is what you call brand-endorsement - a Scorpio driving around Alpine hills) and drove back to the Kongress Centre to attend the Gala Indian Night.

The Taj had laid out the most elaborate of Indian buffets that perhaps Europe has ever seen and Shiamak Davar, DJ Aqueel and Usha Uthup got everyone to groove. What did stand out was the salute to India that evening. Global leaders were there shaking a leg and eating a leg (tandoori chicken). I bumped into Michael Douglas, George Soros and even a smiling Chidambaram. India was truly everywhere. And boy, am I glad I was there too!