The Orphanage For Words

— By T R Ramachandran | Jul 19, 2015 12:54 am 

Poetic and haunting, these stories sum up the fleeting nature of emotions, about how deep they run for the time they do.

Shinie Antony is an instinctive writer with thoughts flooding her mind. Bestselling author Chetan Bhagat is a fan of hers. Her collection of short stories in her latest offering “The Orphanage For Words”, Shinie’s expressions are by and large smooth.

Clearly she is shaken by the sudden death of her father two years ago in whom she wanted to confide a lot of things. Being her favourite person in the family, she deeply regrets not having done so. The title of the book gets one thinking what to expect in it and will it tickle your imagination. If no one wants to use certain words, where do they go? This is especially so when fathers die and mothers don’t remember?

The book is essentially intended to document the “unsaid, what is forgotten, spoken long ago, means nothing anymore. The bad poetry of first love. Old yellowing letters at the bottom of a trunk. Words that jam your hands on the steering wheel long after the lights turn green. Lies men tell women to get them into bed, lies women tell the men they cheat. An old man holding his wife’s hand in dementia. The ungolden silence of silences…”

The twenty odd stories in the book seek to sum up the fleeting nature of emotions about how deep they run for the time they do… Shinie has written books of short stories, two novels and compiled anthologies. She won the Commonwealth short story prize for the Asia region in 2003. There is some fascinating description of emotion bursting into the open bringing to the fore how the mind constantly jumps from one topic to another. As expected characters are flawed as it is not possible for everyone to be perfect. This book appears different compared to the author’s other books.

The Orphanage For Words
Shinie Antony
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Pages: 179; Price: Rs 250

It is difficult to conjure up the themes of some of the short stories. The author like most daughters admits that her “father was the love of her life. If he is gone there is no one to call dad anymore. If your mother has Alzheimer’s she won’t respond to ‘mom’. The minute that affection is gone or mixed up with other feelings, you can continue to say ‘darling’ it won’t mean a thing. Shinie’s previous books have dealt with specific aspects of life. Her first book “Barefoot and Pregnant” was about dysfunctional motherhood; “Polygamous” about infidelities and “Séance on a Sunday Afternoon” about urban loneliness.

“The Ophanage For Words” is about loss, coming to terms with it. Let’s start with the words that make no sense in our life anymore. Loss demands a de-cluttering. Novels and stories are so different — one is leisurely telling, the other an urgent whisper. Writing is a complicated joy. She maintains real bonding comes through only at times of acute grief like death of a dear one or losing a body part. Whom can we turn to, whom to trust?

And is there such an entity — ever understanding, all forgiving, non-judgemental – that we can’t turn to? Our search and belief can scare us… Poetry is much more touching than prose. There is no point in writing anymore as the noise level in the book world is so high, it feels like all of us are talking all at once. I am not sure about any medium…may be everyone knows everything, nobody needs to read or listen anymore. Communication cannot work without the first basic frankness with self. Honest monologues might lead to honest dialogue. And if that traps them into themselves at least they are connecting with themselves, however non-normal as that might seem, she observes in interviews.

One thing that stands out in this book is that all the characters are fluently communicating with themselves. Shinie believes honest monologues might just lead to honest dialogue. In the chapter “Plans” she says that it is in a Bangalore pub that “I first thought of death. I come here every Friday evening to feel hot and happening. When I am drunk enough to slur my speech, I feel adequately social, kiss total strangers and exercise what a jealous colleague calls my ‘babe blues.'” Suddenly life became more interesting.

“There was something to look forward. Planning a classy end appealed to me. Nothing sustains like the promise of death. In fact from early adolescence I had the feeling of this surety that I would die before thirty.” But the minute she walks out of the pub, even before that if the truth be told, I would feel the darkness descend.” A kind of congealing in my core. Once someone commented on it and I almost panicked. The truth, like a dirty bra strap, is just over one’s shoulder.”

Then coming to the chapter of fathers, where she describes her dad as a self made man. A strong, active, rational person who lives for others. After ten wordless days on a ventilator following a massive stroke, he left early in September. She and her brother kept vigil in the hospital and got to meet him for two minutes in 24 hours. When they were told their father had only five minutes left they blinked stupidly. “He was the most fighting fit seventy-nine year ex-military man we knew. We stared at him blankly, sure we could reach if only we knew how. Then he came off the ventilator. Dad was demoted to be dead and there was not a thing we could do about it.”

In the chapter “Mornings” she observes “my whole world was crumbling, obsessing me with the cracks and strains; a second pregnancy. My husband’s spitting image is my first thought. Anything can be explained away if one obtains the right words or talks long enough or loud enough or believes in God, any God from the many out there.”

Speaking of hearts, the men were going to kneel around her in a circle so she’d wear a skirt entirely made of men. Only to this end did ‘M’ invokes the spirits of dead femme fatales. They came haunting on high heels, these bad girl ghosts, most as she had pictured them, with mussed hair and not a stitch on them.

May be trapped in their solitary cells as you say but they are fluently communicating with themselves. It is when the self-talk is at odds with what is ‘right’ or ‘accepted’ speech with another that they find themselves alienated.

Communication cannot work without that first basic frankness with self. The concluding story “Words” draws attention to slip of the tongue and sweet nothings, baby and bitch, killer lines and jokes that fall flat. For words once spoken have to go somewhere.” The book is about the fleeting nature of emotions.

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The book that has made an impact on me – Parikshit Sahni

— By Manasi Y Mastakar | Aug 02, 2015 12:10 am 

It is very difficult to name one book, because there are several books which have made an impact on me. But one fellow who had made tremendous impact on me is Leo Tolstoy. And among all his books, my favourite ones are War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Whenever I read his works, I feel I am there: at his house, in his stories. I can identify with his writing because it is so realistic and has a certain kind of depth. I think he had a fabulous understanding of human nature. There are very few English writers who come close to the kind of writing Tolstoy did.

Historical personality I would like to meet…

One historical personality I would like to meet is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. I think he was a great man and on the right path.

Parikshit Sahni is an Indian film and television actor, who is most known for playing the lead in TV series Barrister Vinod, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (Doordarshan) and Gaatha (STAR Plus). He has also appeared in several Bollywood films and three of Rajkumar Hirani’s blockbuster films such as Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots, and PK.

As told to Manasi Y Mastakar

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Handbook for Independent Directors

— By P P Ramachandran | Aug 09, 2015 12:05 am 

The book under review explores and analyses various dimensions of the role of Independent Directors who are considered as the pivot of corporate governance.

Kaushik Dutta is a partner of India Leadership Team of Price Waterhouse Coopers. He has worked with the Naresh Chandra Committee and is closely associated with a number of bodies in the area of  corporate governance. He formed “Thought Arbitrage Research Institute” which is a Think Tank specialising in corporate performance, public policy and economics. He has authored two books.

The Chairman of the  Committee on Corporate Audit and Governance — Naresh Chandra  in a valuable ‘Foreword’ points out how the corporate governance landscape in India has seen a transformation in the duties and responsibilities of the Board of Directors and management since he submitted his epoch-making report on corporate governance.

The latest round of policy level changes in corporate governance  installs  a robust legal structure and framework to enable effective implementation. The Board of Directors functions more efficiently in a collegiate manner, when they work as a team striving to achieve a common goal in the long-term interests of stakeholders and reconciling conflicting interests of different constituents.

What is the role of the independent director? At the centre of the new paradigm of corporate governance and in line with global practice is the independent director, who by virtue of his knowledge, expertise and objectivity is expected to act as the custodian of public interest. He has to moderate the dominating presence of the owners, government directors or a multi-national company but not get swayed by expectations of individuals or groups who have no risk capital in the organization. He has a highly nuanced responsibility of striking a fair balance.

The volume under review critically analyses the challenges faced by the independent directors. It covers the gamut of duties and functions of this official right from his joining the Board to discharging his allotted task and evaluating the Board’s and Directors’ performance at the close of the year.

Corporate events in India have highlighted the focus on governance which was not noticed hitherto. The Government of India has enacted the Companies Act 2013 while the SEBI revised Clause 49 of the listing agreement. These two regulations have expanded the responsibilities and liabilities of independent directors making their task tougher. The “EY” India and the “Thought Arbitrage Research Institute” have together provided a comprehensive understanding of the evolving role of independent directors. They have based it on their interaction with such officials, both globally and in India, using case-studies which afforded practical insights.

Independent directors discharge their role both as strategic advisers to companies and their management and as monitors of management actions. Effectiveness in the twin roles impacts the efficacy of the Board, which is closely tied up with an understanding of the technical and intellectual requirements from  the role as also the softer and behaviour pre-requisites.

The contributors to the book hail from different fields of expertise —lawyers, chartered accountants, PhD holders in corporate governance, company secretaries, researchers and professional editors.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part is on “Independent Directors” and has seven chapters dealing with the evolution of an independent director. We have a clear exposition of the legal processes in connection with the appointment of such officials, the exercise of their independence. The duties of directors are adumbrated — how and where they are likely to falter are analysed cogently. Business risks are covered at considerable length.

Part Two is devoted to Board committees and role of independent directors and has six chapters. There is an in-depth analysis of the differences between Board and Board committees and  roles of various committees. The Audit Committee has been studied and the link between independent directors and such committees has been highlighted. A list of the relevant questions is given and this will ensure the effectiveness of the audit process. Audit committee members ought to be aware of the limitations of their knowledge about a company. Their action must strike the right balance between skepticism and blind faith.

The Companies Act has mandated a dedicated Nomination and Remuneration Committee which will be in charge of drawing a framework within which appointments of directors and senior management will be made. Remuneration policy is crucial for long-term growth and sustainability of a company.

Corporate social responsibility has acquired tremendous importance in successful discharge of a company’s social objectives. The vigilance mechanism has been thoroughly discussed. The final chapter is on “Guardians of Good Governance” and sums up all the attributes desirable in independent directors. Their role is to stay ahead, create a Gold Standard and constantly push the boundary of growth.

This book is an outstanding reference manual that serves as a guide for all present and prospective independent directors, helping them to uphold corporate morality. A must read book for all legal students, corporate executives, directors and policy makers.

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Kamasutra in the time of porn ban

— By Preetha Nair | Aug 16, 2015 07:56 am 

Doniger positions Kamasutra as a feminist text rather than a book offering “mattress-quaking sex styles.

The Mare’s Trap: Nature and Culture in the Kamasutra

Wendy Doniger

Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Price: Rs.399; Pages: 182

‘The Mare’s Trap: Nature and Culture in the Kamasutra’ might come as a shocker to the “moral brigade” at work in India. The book, a re-telling of the Kamasutra by Wendy Doniger, explicates how ancient India appreciated eroticism and its progressive outlook on gender and female sexuality.

Doniger’s account of the liberal outlook of Kamasutra, a third century work by Indian ascetic Vatsyayana, is a rap on the knuckles for contemporary India. Putting the “puritanical censorship” to shame, Doniger, an American academic, explores how a progressive Vatsyayana endorsed same-sex love and adultery (with some caution).

Doniger, whose first book, ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History’ sparked a row last year, contends in her new book that Kama (desire) is as old as Hinduism and the earliest Hindu text the Rig Veda revels in the language of pleasure and fertility.
The author also seeks to establish the Kamasutra, the world’s most famous text of erotic love, as a landmark of India’s secular literature. Dispelling popular notions that Kamasutra is all about improbable positions, she argues that the book is about the art of living, about finding a partner, maintaining power in a marriage and committing adultery.

Doniger positions Kamasutra as a feminist text rather than a book offering “mattress-quaking sex styles. She puts forth her arguments for it being a text for women rather than men. “A woman should study the Kamasutra and its subsidiary arts before she reaches the prime of her youth and she should continue when she has been given away, if her husband wishes it,” the book says.

According to Doniger, Vatsyayana’s view of the female orgasm is “far more subtle than views that prevailed in Europe until very recently.” Doniger says that Vatsyayana knew about the G-Spot, the female pleasure point named after the 20th century German gynecologist Ernst Graefenberg, and squarely put the blame on British scholar Richard Burton’s misleading translation of Kamasutra for keeping it a secret from the western world.

Vatsyayana also takes an extraordinary stand that the sexual act is for pleasure and not to produce children, which is the basic premise of the institution of marriage in India. Doniger says that despite being a highly-sophisticated book, Kamasutra is not getting the attention it deserves – sometimes taken as a matter of national shame rather than pride – and in the rest of the world it is a source of amused amazement.

Doniger also throws light on how Kamasutra has heavily borrowed from Kautilya’s Arthashastra, a book on statecraft. She also describes how both the books mostly differ with Manu’s Dharmashastra, which coined castes and defined women as inferior to men.

To drive home her point, the scholar points out that Vatsyayana was a strong advocate of women’s sexual pleasure and Kamasutra assumes a kind of sexual freedom for women that would have appalled Manu.

In a surprisingly modern take, Vatsyayana suggests that a woman must leave her husband if she is not getting pleasure and even defends adultery. However, Manu advocates that a virtuous wife should constantly serve her husband like a God, even if he behaves badly and adultery is a legal crime, according to him.

Vatsyayana finds it natural for a woman getting attracted to men: “A woman desires any attractive man she sees, and, in the same way, a man desires a woman.” Vatsyayana even advises men on where to meet married women.

Doniger also refers to Vatsyayana’s non-judgmental attitude on same-sex love even more daring in his day than it is in ours now. Anyone listening?

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Book Review – Killing Patton

— By T R Ramachandran | Aug 16, 2015 08:01 am 

This book takes readers inside the final year of the war and recounts the events surrounding Patton’s tragic demise, naming names of the many powerful individuals who wanted him silenced.

Killing Patton

Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Pages: 352; Price: Rs 599

As the most audacious General during World War II, George S Patton’s death in a car accident has raised questions if it was an assassination. There were attempts on his life and the General hardly took notice of them. But the US Army remains unbudging that its inquiry held Patton’s death was due to injuries suffered in an accident when a army truck hit his Caddilac limousine. However, some searching questions about the manner in which the accident occurred remains unanswered.

There was no formal inquest, no attempt to speak to Patton in the hospital about his version of events, and no inquiry was conducted after his death. Seeking more information about the death of his friend, Gen Geoffrey Keyes, commander of the seventh Army immediately launched a probe of his own into the accident. But Keyes report too went missing. The only report that remained in circulation was a curious document that was allegedly written in 1952 and signed by PFC Horace Woodring, Gen Patton’s driver. When asked about it in after 27 years in 1979, Woodring swore that he had never made any statements or signed his name to any such report. He believed the paperwork was completely fabricated.

Attempts by the authors of the book “Killing Patton” – Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard – to find the official accident report were unsuccessful. If it does exist it is well hidden. The cover up was complete. In 1979, Office of Strategic Studies Jedburgh Douglas Bazata made the astounding assertion that he was part of a hit team that lay in wait for Patton’s limousine. He claimed after the crash he fired a low velocity projectile into the back of Patton’s neck to snap it.

When Patton did not die immediately, the general was murdered by the agents of NKVD, the Russian security in charge of political assassinations and espionage, by using an odourless poison. Bazata also swore that Wild Bill Donovan of the OSS paid him $10,000 Dollars plus another $800 in expenses for his role in Patton’s death. But many believe Bazata’s story is farfetched. No projectiles were ever found, and surely Woodring, Patton’s driver, and Gen Hap Gay who was accompanying Patton would have seen an assassination team.

The authors believe the death of Gen Patton should be re-examined by American military investigations. Although the trail is ice cold, technological advances could solve some of the puzzles. There is no doubt that Patton died a hero, and history certainly honours that to this day. But the tough old general did not go out on his own terms, and there are many unanswered questions surrounding his death. These questions deserve to be addressed.  He had some premotion about his impending death. A few weeks before leaving his daughters in Washington, Patton said something that disturbed them greatly. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. I won’t be seeing you again.” His daughters protested “It’s crazy”.

Constantly wanting to attack the “krauts” as the Allied forces called the Fuhrer’s Nazis, the only competition he had came from the British commander Gen Bernard Law Montgomery for whom the overall allied commander Gen Dwight Eisenhower had a soft corner. Montgomery silenced the Nazi desert fox Gen Erwin Rommel and secured a major breakthrough. It was on September 28, 1945 when Patton had 85 days to live that he is summoned with prejudice to meet his boss Eisenhower or ‘Ike’ as he was widely known.

Because of foul Autumn rains, Patton had driven seven-and-a-half hours to reach Ike’s massive industrial office complex that now serves as his headquarters. During the journey, Patton was thinking of the words to speak to save his career once again. The meeting between Patton and Ike borders on volcanic. Ike is “nasty and show offish” Patoon thinks.

Given his propensity to shoot off his mouth before the media, Patton has made a mess of things yet again going on record as stating that being a member of the Nazi party is no different from being a member of the Republican or Democratic party. “To get things done in Bavaria after the complete disorganisation and disruption of four years of war we had to compromise with the devil a little. We had no alternative but to turn to the people who knew what to do and how to do it,” he told a small gathering of the press in his office, defending his use of former Nazi officials in the rebuilding of Germany.

But the truth is Patton no longer has a career worth saving. He is restless and bored. His behaviour borders on depressive some days, with the best remedy being a hunting expedition or time on horseback. Patton desperately misses the war. He also believes that the Russians are America’s new enemy, and should be treated as such. This was also the view of Britain war time Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Patton stands alone. Indeed, American troops are either going home or being sent to the Pacific to fight the Japanese, leaving fewer and fewer GIs to fight the “Mongols” as Patton calls the Russians.

Even more disturbing to Patton is that all his peers are going home to bigger and better jobs. While Patton spends his days reluctantly getting rid of the Nazi presence in Bavaria, Ike will soon be the Army chief of Staff, Gen Omar Bradley is already in Washington, heading the new Veterans Administration, and of course Gen Courtney Hodges is off to fight in the Pacific.  It seems there is no place for Patton in a peacetime army. “Your greatest fault,” Eisenhower tells Patton “is your audacity”.

The words are meant to sting but both men know that Patton considers audacity his greatest asset. He has no choice as he walks out of Eisenhower’s office. Later on he tells an aide over dinner that he’d like to resign from the Army so that he can go home and say “what I have to say.” But powerful people do not want this to happen. Patton knows too much – and saying what he knows would be a disaster. He must be silenced.

At 6 AM on December 9, 1945 Patton who has barely a dozen days to live has awakened. Official Army orders are directing Patton to return home where he has arranged to take 30 days leave and celebrate Christmas with his family. After that he plans to leave the military. On this particular day Patton decides to go pheasant hunting outside Manheim but enroute visits the Roman fort near Sallburg.  He starts at 9 AM and at 11.45 AM a military truck crashes head on with Patton’s Cadillac. At 12.43 PM Patton arrives at the US Army 130th Station Hospital. In the right backseat Patton is thrown forward his head slamming violently into the steel partition between Woodring’s driver’s compartment and the backseat. His nose breaks. He feels a sharp pain at the back of his neck.

After checking on his staff, Patton says in a weak voice “I believe I am paralysed.” Military Police Lt Peter K Babalas is on the scene and opens the back door and finds himself staring at George Patton being supported in an upright seated position. He was having trouble breathing. He asked that his arms and shoulders be rubbed hard. His face is growing pale and his feet are extremely cold. “I don’t want a damned thing,” he tells the attending Doctor.

Allied authorities are given the top secret information that one of America’s great heroes is incapacitated. Doctors believed Patton will survive his injuries and should be able to travel soon. They were proved wrong.

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The Barefoot Lawyer

— By T R Ramachandran | Aug 23, 2015 08:33 am 

Both a riveting memoir and a revealing portrait of modern China, this passionate book tells the story of a man who has never accepted limits and always believed in the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle.

The Barefoot Lawyer

Chen Guangcheng

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Pages: 330; Price: Rs 599

This is a nerve tingling account of the Communist Regime in China using brute force and barbaric means to snuff out dissidence. This goes contrary to the Communist party’s theme of serving the interests of the people. The account of visually impaired Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught barefoot lawyer, who dared to take it upon himself and his band of friends to fight for human rights puts one on the seats edge.

The barbaric and inhuman manner in which the lesser minions being more loyal than the King use their brawn to stifle and eventually silence the dissenters sends jitters up one’s spine. Inevitably, they might be a minuscule number but strong willed who challenge the high and mighty and try to expose the ham handed ways of the administration.

The vast majority of the Chinese population in the country’s out-backs toils and suffers at the hands of the party cadres whose exploitation of the poor in the villages is legion. All this and more is revealed in Chen’s tell all book ‘The Barefoot Lawyer’. The taxes that these people have to cough up annually are marked up to ridiculously high levels. The hated one child norm is only talked about in big centres. It is hardly evident several hundred miles beyond Beijing in the rural areas where people invariably have three, four or even five children. Their family planning techniques are akin to the controversial and forced sterilisation drive undertaken in this country four decades back during the highly feared and draconian internal Emergency.

While people in China get wages in low three digits like 200 or 300 Yuan, they have to shell out in thousands by way of taxes summarily imposed on them. There is rank exploitation of the poor amid sweeping corruption. The Chinese authorities become highly circumspect when human rights abuses are reported in the western media. When Chen was being incarcerated, his interviews to the CNN, BBC and various leading newspapers in England and the United States proved highly embarrassing for the Chinese leadership. It had its repercussions down the leadership chain. What hurts the Chinese establishment is Chen’s recognition internationally as the most famous political activist of China. His guts and perseverance despite being visually impaired brought him freedom. He now lives with his wife Weijing and two children in the United States.

Chen was 18 or 19 when he went to a school for the visually impaired which had opened two to three hours drive from his native village Dongshigu. Son of a poor farmer he was under house arrest for nearly a year-and-a-half when Chen took his wife into confidence and plotted escaping from his heavily guarded home. He remained undeterred despite having lost his vision as an infant. He educated himself to fight for the rights of the country’s poor especially a legion of women who had endured forced sterilisation.

The Dalai Lama in a brief but telling foreword says he looks forward to the time when China is “able to embrace and accommodate inspiring as well as motivated people like Chen Guangcheng and Liu Xiaobo (given the Nobel prize for his long fight for human rights in China). People like them have a positive role to play”. Helping people help themselves as Chen did is no threat to peace and order of society, but can instead contribute to harmony, observed His Holiness.

Chen says he might not be able to see but people have no idea that “my ear provides information that sighted people are blind to. Chinese history is full of examples of the disempowered overcoming odds with wit and daring”. His father’s tales became Chen’s foundational texts in everything from morality to history and literature that provided him with a roadmap for everyday life. He often thought of a wise saying he had read somewhere: “Good doctors cure illnesses and great doctors cure people, but the greatest doctors heal the nation”. He did not know where this new path would take him but “I want to follow it to the horizon and beyond. The evil in society should be unmasked”.

The government was again raising the spectre of a violent family planning campaign. In rural China having multiple children is still seen by many as not only a long standing cultural and economic imperative but also a basic right. When the traditional bias against girls meets the One-Child policy head on the result is a widely skewed gender imbalance. Boys now far outnumber girls though on paper the law does not allow birth selection based on the sex of the baby.

The crackdown was a near replica of the enforcement campaigns in the past. It is unlawful for officials to abuse their power by kidnapping one or both parents, seizing money or property or harassing family members. It is difficult to believe that criminal behaviour can be taking place on such a large scale. The government campaign continued to escalate and the cases of brutality and terror kept mounting.

When it came to family planning the laws did not matter: Officials could act with complete impunity and the whole system seemed rigged. No one – whether doctors, nurses, officials or judges is willing to step forward and stop what everyone knew were atrocities. It was not long before Chen is placed under House arrest and fully in “my captors power now.” He was now alone with his enemies and bound for an unknown fate. Then begins the trials in August 2006. While one attorney was roughed up badly the others were not allowed near Chen. He had no idea what is in store for him. Both the trials against him on trumped up charges was a farce.

In both instances he was sentenced to four years and three months for disturbing traffic and destroying public property. He was sent to Linyi city prison where his body was ailing but his spirit unbroken. He was driven home to Dongshigu by his captors and there can be no pretending: once again “my home would become my prison. And now it seemed I will never escape the prison walls of China.”

This time the large scale effort to imprison him in his own home was real. Now that he was under house arrest, he felt the moment for escape was ripe. “We needed just the tiniest of openings, then a first move perfectly executed. It’s now or never,” he told Weijing. He had no choice at all now. That he hoodwinked a whole battery of crawling security personnel encircling his house and the village of Dongshingu for four days speaks of his resoluteness to break free from the Communist shackles. Despite a broken leg while scaling a wall and landing on sharp stones during his escape, he finally reached the US Embassy in Beijing.

Depending on his friends, Chen carried his heart in his mouth all the time. Deputy chief of the US mission Wang finally told Chen, “Don’t worry you are safe now. You can breathe easy.” It was the end of the storm but Chen continued to have serious doubts about the Chinese being devious even though he had the full backing of Washington DC. Finally Chen had to visit a hospital outside the US Embassy to fix his broken leg and ensure he regains his health. Everyone knew he was once again in Chinese hands and “no one could say for sure when I would have another chance to speak to the outside world”.

After all the high drama the Chinese authorities preferred getting rid of a problem by driving Chen and his immediate family to the airport with the relevant documents so that they could wing their way to the Land of Promise and freedom. The notion that China is gradually liberalising and improving its human rights record is simply untrue. Like the dynasties of the past, in China today the elite enjoys the rights and privileges available to no one else. No matter what the crime, the party and its representatives cannot be tried or held liable in lawsuits of any kind. Chen believes the “fate of my country of origin” will not be an isolated one. His effort is a dream of justice and equality for not just the citizens of China but for all peoples.

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