Sunday, January 19, 2003		Ranga's Toon Tales

A. Gromyko

ONE of the top leaders of the Russian Communist Party, A. Gromyko, who later became the President of the erstwhile Soviet Union, was his country’s Foreign Minister for a long duration. He was instrumental in establishing good diplomatic relations with all the nations of the world.

He came on a visit to Delhi as his country’s foreign minister in 1977 to hold talks with the Indian leaders and to visit the Russian pavilion at the Trade Fair.

I was present on the occasion and soon got into the act of drawing his sketch while he was holding talks with the trade fair authorities.

I managed to go to him and when I showed him his sketch, without any hesitation, he responded to my request to affix his signature on it and expressed his satisfaction by giving a friendly smile. This was on April 25, 1977, a time when the Soviet Union was considered a superpower.