Ah, young love! French President Nicolas Sarkozy may be joined by his ex-supermodel folksinger possibly pregnant and probable fiancé Carla Bruni during a forthcoming visit to Delhi next week, where he will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade on January 26.

In socially conservative India, where unmarried couples are uncommon and generally frowned upon, there has been much confusion within the bureaucracy about the proper protocol for the unprecedented accommodating of the girlfriend of a head of state. Should she be sleeping with him in his five star hotel? Should she be seated next to him at the official banquet along with Indian President Pratibha Patil and her husband? Officials are stumped, and it’s causing quite a stir in government circles and in the local tabloids.

“India should not worry about whether they are married or not. They are our guests. In India we have a saying - “Guest is God” - and that’s how we should treat them,” Professor Pushpesh Pant of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University told the BBC’s Hindi service.

That’s all fine and good Professor, but what if the guest is rubbing their dirty boots all over your couch and emptying the liquor cabinet? Not that Ms. Bruni would do so (at least we hope not), but my point is this: guests have certain responsibilities to their hosts as well. Sarkozy is traveling to India as representative of the French nation and the French people. If bringing his girlfriend along for the ride and expecting her to get the royal treatment is throwing the bureaucracy into a tizzy and making the people of India uncomfortable with the arrangement, then he should leave Ms. Bruni home and take her on vacation when he’s off the clock.