So far, the government has refused to entertain any serious visitors here from England. Furious with London's "overbearing criticism" over its nuclear tests, New Delhi has deliberately let the British stew in its perceived isolation.

Seeing that the Indo-US dialogue was making ground, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is believed to have written to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, on the eve of the PM's visit to New York last month. He sought a resumption of bilateral ties that had been put into cold freeze after the tests. New Delhi hummed and hawed. In diplomatese, that really meant `No.'

Another attempt is now being made to patch up the relationship, with Britain sending its Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth AffairsDerek Fatchett to Delhi to attend the troika meeting of the European Union (EU) on November 13.

Finally, New Delhi seems to have relented. It is believed that Fatchett will be received here a couple of days before the EU-India meeting and talks with the Ministry of External Affairs will be labelled ``political discussions.''

In fact, with London so eager to talk, both sides may even set up an Indo-British ``strategic dialogue''. It is believed that Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra, who has been allocated to speak to France, will lead talks with London as well.

The government is more than pleased that the EU has decided after all to go ahead with its troika meeting -- consisting of Austria as president, UK as past president and Germany as future president -- and European diplomats concede the event will be a feather in India's cap.

``No one could have conceived of the EU troika coming to India soon after the country went nuclear in May, the rhetoric was so antagonistic. But it is happening and thatis creditworthy for India,'' said a European diplomat.

Foreign policy analysts point out that the gradual change in the international climate towards India, five bare months after it busted the global non-proliferation order, is in no small part due to the fact that India and the US have sustained four rounds of dialogue.

``The US, as the remaining superpower, is the world's ringmaster. Allies like Britain are now saying to themselves that if the ringmaster can deal with India, then why should we be left behind,'' one analyst said.

It has also considerably helped, the analysts added, that France and Russia decided to break early from the US-China criticism of India and build independent strategic relationships with New Delhi. The French president's special envoy Gerard Herrera begins the first round of discussions with Mishra on Wednesday where ``everything under the sun will be discussed.''

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, despite the political troubles he is facing at home, has also confirmed thathe will be visiting Delhi from December 6-8, ministry sources said.