India, Sept. 6 -- These days, India-China relations are dominating headlines. But behind the headlines that emerge from every international summit, there are days of intense planning and preparation, and inevitably, some interesting and humorous anecdotes destined to remain unknown. I was involved with two path-breaking visits to China, one by Prime Minister (PM) Rajiv Gandhi in 1988, and the other by President R Venkatraman in 1992.

Rajiv Gandhi's visit to China in 1988 was the first after Jawaharlal Nehru's in 1954. I went to China as part of the team tasked with preparing for it, and then again as part of his delegation.

At the time of PM's departure from the Technical Area in Delhi, I found that one suitcase had been conspicuously k...