But in both countries, we have vociferous minorities opposed to it. In India we have the Communists led by Prakash Karat and the Saffronites led by BJP’s L K Advani who for reasons of their own are strongly opposed to it.

When it comes to having anything to do with Uncle Sam, Karat loses his cool. After he has had his say, he calms down, sulks for a while, then nods assent without saying a word. The saffronites who regard Karat’s party as their worst enemies are quite willing to strike a deal with them in the expectation that together they may be able to topple the Sonia-Manmohan government in the hope that in the general election that must ensue they may be able to get back to power with Advani as the Prime Minister.

Does the deal compromise our independence in any way? There is bound to be pressure from the US to make us toe its foreign policy, cancel the deal we have made with Iran to buy gas from it. We can, and are, going to resist that pressure. We need both the US nuclear know-how as well as Iranian gas to meet our domestic needs for power. We cannot go on wasting our foreign exchange reserves buying oil from other countries.

Does the deal inhibit us from developing nuclear weapons? I don’t think we should bother about that, Nuclear bombs are like suicide bombers which destroy themselves in the process of destroying their enemies. If that is what we want, we already have the means to do so.

Our Maharani
I  know the editor of the magazine, the ablest of his breed and probably the highest paid in the country. I admired him, envied his success but did not warm towards him till one of his minions casually mentioned his daily routine. He works long hours in office and is usually the last to leave. At the gate a dozen street urchins and stray dogs await him. His chaprasi fills pots with milk for the dogs; he hands over a hundred rupee note to the eldest boy to buy sweets or ice-creams. When I learnt that he does this every evening my heart melted. It does so towards anyone who makes this kind of activity a part of his daily life.

That is the reason of my affection for my next door neighbour Reeta Devi. While working with Mother Teresa she married Rajkumar Bhim Varma of Cooch Bihar, nephew of Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur. They moved from Calcutta to Sujan Singh Park, New Delhi. Every evening Bhim set out from his flat, his car was loaded with packets of buffalo meat cooked with rice and he spent a couple of hours feeding street dogs who awaited him at different places.

He did this without fail till the last day of his life. His wife took on where her husband had left. She handed over the running of the hospital she built in Guwahati (she is Assamese) to the Missionaries of Charity. She set up the Ila Trust to render free medical services to the poor.

Four years ago Kapil Sibal gifted her a mobile clinic. She had two doctors, a nurse, X-ray and other diagnostic implements to run it. It started going out to disant parts of the city. My feelings towards Reeta Devi are a mixture of awe, admiration and affection. She has an imperious temper. Everyone knows what she is doing; so everyone admires her. Whenver she steps out of her apartment, cats and dogs gather round her, rubbing their bodies against her legs or licking her hands. She looks like the Queen of Sheba with her retinue of slaves following her.

Matrimonial
The papers gave front page headlines a few days back to the news that a 51 year old woman from USA, a multiple divorcee, had while on holiday in Egypt, fallen in love with and married a younger son of no less than Osama bin Laden. This was followed a few days later by another report that the families of both had refused to recognise the union. So the doggerel is:

Do not frown on Jane Felix Browne, The much married granny;
She was 51 and Omar 27, but it is not that funny;
Ordained from above, they fell in love in the shadow of the pyramids;
Osama Jr  Was so near,and they were no kids.
Several sons, also grandsons romp about her homes;
It would be sad If she can’t add, without Mecca’s permission, or Rome’s.
(Contributed by Prabhat S Vaidya, Mumbai)