With a crowd estimated at around 30,000, the first thing that caught the eye was the tri-services unity. And no, it wasn't the armed services expressing this joint services solidarity, but the local BJP unit.

They had all the three services represented with colourful posters and a huge Bofors gun painted in the background.

And with the weather gods casting their lot with PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, this was literally the silver lining to the overcast skies. Security was tight, and Pune not being very familiar with the such VVIP visits, the crowd was a bit flustered with the arrangements.

If not anything else, Pune did itself proud with the biggest cut-out seen in the city so far. Standing at an approximate height of 70 feet, this was the PM in all his glorypointing skywards. The cut-outs of the lady from Poes Garden (known for their enormity) had good competition.

But the crowd seemed to have the biggest applause for leaders from the State than the PM, who was on his first visit to the city after assuming the top office. As the PM's speech, already late by VVIP standards, got underway, some from the restless crowd started filing out.

The cheering was sparse and the noise low, with most of the sloganeering reserved to die-hard supporters.

Most were present to hear the PM speak on Kargil. `Would there be a war?' was what the crowd was busy discussing. Even the few references to the Opposition parties evoked little response.

Of course, some enterprising souls were out to sell their wares, be it the BJP cloth-badge at Rs 2 or the metal-badge that went for a few notches higher.