``Every politician has a price. Buy them cheap today,'' quipped cartoonist Sudhir Tailang, as he exhorted the motley bunch to buy his on-the-spot caricatures of the purse-lipped premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, `designed robot' Sonia Gandhi, former union finance minister P Chidambaram, former prime minister P V Narasamiha Rao, painter Satish Gujral and several more.Drawing cartoons as the rib-ticklers were being read from S H Venkatramani's Satiric Verses by those present. Girish Karnad's nephew, Bharat Karnad, who is a policy analyst, read out the one on his uncle.

Enjoying digs at fellow politicians, Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Najma Heptullah offered to read the one on Sitaram Kesri:
An old man was in a tearing hurry to capture the PM'sChair,

For morals and public opinion he didn't seem to care;

He was actually going to bury

The Congress in his hurry;

Usually full of bonhomie, he had even begun to swear.

Venkatramani's verses were witty, sarcastic and but full of adulation for the subject, more often than not a pointer to the state of affairs ``we have allowed ourselves to sink into''.

While Vajpayee's cartoon was lapped up at a handsome Rs 10,000, that of Chidambaram went for Rs 5,000. But, with not many in the mood to part with precious money, it took a bit of persuasion to auction those of Sonia Gandhi, Satish Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narasimha Rao. Finally Rao's caricature, the well-pronounced pout in place, went for a royal sum of Rs 2600, having started from Rs 100.

Chidambaram bought his own caricature in absentia. He left after reading the five-liner on himself and a request to media magnate Shobhana Bharatiya to bid and buy for him. The auction garnered a total of Rs 20,000 for the men fighting it out in Kargil.Known more for his brush, Tailang's acerbic wit showed as he got into the mood of the small but star-studded Friday evening. ``Narasimha Rao,'' he told the audience, ``is designed for cartooning. He looks exactly like a frog.''

Readings of the limericks even inspired some to compose impromptu ones. Supercop K P S Gill walked in at the fag end to read a flattering one on another of his tribe, Kiran Bedi, forcing him to comment,``These are innocuous. Not the kind I grew up on.''

The five-line jingle on him, read out earlier by renowned theatre personality Bhaskar Bhattacharji, had already evoked more than a cackle of laughter.

To tackle insurgency, he was supremely fit,

In maintaining law and order in Punjab, he was a terrific hit;

His role in the State

Has inspired debate;

And when it comes to women, he gets to the bottom of it!