At President Pranab's Dinner, an Impromptu SAARC Summit

President Pranab Mukherjee had Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his brand new Council of Ministers and dignitaries from eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, countries to dinner at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 26. The heads of seven states and the Speaker of the Bangladeshi Parliament were invited to India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Mr Modi's new government.(Photo courtesy:Rashtrapati Bhavan)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seated next to Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Mr Modi's meeting with Nawaz Sharif takes place after a long spell of frosty ties over the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and tension along the border.(Photo courtesy:Rashtrapati Bhavan)

Sushma Swaraj, the new Minister for External Affairs, was spotted in conversation with Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif at the President's dinner.(Photo courtesy:Rashtrapati Bhavan)

At this high-powered round table, from left: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Sri Lankan Preisdent Mahinda Rajapaksa.(Photo courtesy:Rashtrapati Bhavan)

Flowers on the table, cups laid out for coffee or tea: the setting may have been grand and the invitees some of the world's most powerful but the mood, judging from Nawaz Sharif's smile, seems light.(Photo courtesy:Rashtrapati Bhavan)