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| Sunday, 10 March 2002 |
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by FACTOTUM Time was when foreign affairs then known as external affairs came under the wing of the Head of Government who was invariably tied down to internal affairs and could hardly find time to rove around the world meeting up with other heads to sort out matters external. If at all these affairs were managed more by remote control through our diplomatic missions. Of course, with our standing and estimation elevated, when we began to play a more dominant role in the non-alignment movement the demands made on our Heads increased and those air trips, as air travel became more common, became more frequent but they were still limited to the big occasions. All this changed in 1977 when external affairs turned foreign affairs under a separate minister. Foreign affairs took up so much of his time that this affable people's representative was hardly on terra firma and that too seldom in his electorate. Posters went up for search parties to locate him to pay heed to the routine needs of his people who badly missed him. As demands hotted up he was called upon to flit around to mend fences to combat and counter all the vicious propaganda that was spewed out by wicked opponents of that regime. His successors improved on his performance at globe trotting, but were then confined to our own planet. True, man had landed on the moon in that decade of the 1960s. Limited though the time spent there they returned with a full cargo of rock and soil samples. There was no evidence of rice fields in the part that Neil Armstrong set foot on but there were pledges to import rice even from the moon if the necessity so demanded to feed the starving millions. That need did not arise, providentially, as there was enough and more to go round (home grown) with substitutes thrown in only at lunch time on alternate days. But plans to make the trip if the necessity arose were never abandoned. Considering the billions we have been coughing out to maintain a military machine, who would grudge similar expenditure for peaceful purposes? Hyperbole apart, the once and for all payment for a lunar confab would be worth it after all if that is going to seal the issue of a lasting peace on this thrice blessed isle. If reports from Coolum, Brisbane, Australia are to be believed a trip to the moon is a possibility to iron out differences that stand in the way of the peace deal. who knows? It could serve as a multi-purpose trip if we could harvest and bring back loads of rice to flood the market and beat those unscrupulous traders who are stock piling imports to thwart the efforts of our energetic Trade Minister. So, all in all a lunar trip is a commendable idea. That would enable us to get a telescopic view of the next planet that is to be colonised for man. If everything fails we could pitch camp over there and overcome the fragmentation over here. Safe passage of lunar modules is all that has to be ensured. |
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