Appeasing the Americans
By Chanchal Sarkar

NOW it is the season to appease the Americans and so Vajpayee supports the American strikes against Afghanistan and Sudan. Maybe it is because India is experiencing terrorism, (international terrorism) in Kashmir. The world's worst terrorist organisation is the CIA which has struck in country after country. Despite a so-called "law" prohibiting it, the CIA is not averse to assassination; "taking out" is the euphemistic term. Numerous efforts were made to rub off Fidel Castro, and all of them failed. President Allende of Chile was killed and Chile was left to almost two decades of dictatorial rule.

Now the Americans have struck at two of the world's poorest countries. The blatant terrorist attacks of the Israelis all over the West Asia and elsewhere are conveniently forgotten by the Americans. By its support of the American Cruise raids, India would have forfeited goodwill of Muslim countries.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the long arm of retaliation has now started to reach even the territory of the United States, the World Trade Center in New York for instance. Elsewhere it is not just the embassies at Nairobi and Dar-es-Salam but, earlier, American military living quarters in Riyadh (1995) and Baharein (1996). The Saudis have been uncooperative in helping to solve the last two bombings. Reagan bombed Libya and the USA, spearheaded sanctions which have now lost almost all impact. Maybe the Pan Am flight that came down in Scotland was in retribution.

Today the Americans are really worried. If there is heavy security in public buildings (as in the New Delhi Embassy, for instance) the avengers might turn to "soft" targets such as schools, tourist centres, business houses etc especially as in the case of Palestinian militants who are not afraid to stake their lives.

I must say that the coverage of the strikes in Afghanistan and the Sudan by networks like the CNN have, on occasion, tried to look at the Sudanese and Afghan viewpoints and to under- stand their indignation. What is fantastic is the action of the UN Security Council which has just left the Sudanese complaint on the "table". There will be no investigation, it says, in view of the US assertion that the pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum did manufacture chemical weapons. What hypocrisy and obsequious toadying by the other members!

In this memorable year when the incomparable Don Bradman turned 90 let me add my two-piece worth of reminiscences. During World War II when Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia were captured by the Japanese communication with the Southern Hemisphere was all but stopped. One day there came to me in Calcutta a letter marked "opened by censor". It was from Australia and the writer was Don Bradman. I had forgotten that I had written to him many, many months ago. He thanked me for my letter and replied to my hope that his son would become a great cricketer also. He , too, hoped that his son would turn out well. (However in all that is now written about the Don I don't see any reference to his son; may be he didn't go into cricket). Then he answered a question of mine — on how to play the leg-break. He said it was the hardest ball in cricket to play and proceeded to give me some advice on how to play it. It saddens me beyond words that I have lost the letter. I can see in front of me the handwritten envelope and letter and also the drawer in which I had put it. But I searched that drawer many times later and did not find it.

Among the most pitiable people in the world are those in Europe who are descended from us Indians. They are the Gypsies or Romanys. Many centuries ago they came to Europe and spread themselves over countries like Romania, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Britain. Everywhere they have been persecuted, denied citizenship rights, social service benefits, employment, proper schooling, health facilities and so on. In time many became nomads or travellers as they are called. They had no fixed place to stay in but lived in caravans.

During Nazi times they were marked down for extermination and about 200,000 died in concentration camps and 500,000 altogether in World War II. And today when there is a proposal to put up in Berlin a monument to those who died in the Holocaust they want to leave out the Romany names and engrave the names of Jews only! After the war when the Jews were compensated in several countries in Europe but most of the Romanys were left out. In the Czech Republic, because many of them don't know Czech properly, the children from Romany homes are often sent to schools for the mentally disabled. Once three, a transfer to a normal school is almost impossible. Skinheads attack them in Germany and all the East European countries.

Things in the Czech Republic are so bad that a few years ago the President, Vaclav Havel, a Nobel Prize winner, had to lecture his countrymen about the Romanys, but to no avail. After the war when some crumbs of rights have come to them, the Romanys have in a small way entered politics, gone to human rights organisations and there are some bodies of the majority who have stood up for them. But things are still bad. Books say that their language is related to Punjabi and Hindi; they have an old literature.

We in India ought to take an interest in these people who have descended from us. The Chinese are not sitting idle when the Indonesians are assaulting the local Chinese, burning their homes and shops and raping their women. I have not heard of any Indian scholar trying to trace the connections with the Romayns, learning their language and getting to know them.