Suddenly, girls armed with walkie-talkies began barking out instructions: "Hold it! Slow down the floats. Slow them down further." A second later, one overheard exactly why. "The chief minister will only get here at 4.20."

To be fair, Goa Chief Minister Pratap Singh Rane's car did pull up at exactly that time, and being less than an hour late (his was a 50 minute delay) is more than acceptable for the CM, one can argue.

The floats merrily travelled on, covered with girls in sequined dresses cavorting merrily to Goan tunes. There were floats featuring King Neptune of the sea, various seahorses, and a parade of men in plush cartoon character outfits, a bizarre collective involving Batman, Tigger and Minnie Mouse, among others.