1616:WILLIAM KEELING IN CALICUT

Twelve year old boy in an English Factory

William Keeling was an amateur producer of Shakespeare's plays.Probably,he wanted to make money,when he led an East India Company expedition to India and the East.

Invested with the title of Commander-in Chief,he was keen to expand the activities of the Company.He sailed down the coast of India,in the ship,The Red Dragon,periodically exchanging fire with Portuguese ships.In March 1616,while off Cranganore,he was intercepted by an emissary of the Zamorin of Calicut.The Zamorin,who was preparing to attack the Portuguese Fort at Cranganore,offered to give the Company,trading rites at Calicut in exchange for assistance and an agreement was concluded.Keeling left behind four men and a 12 year old boy to establish a factory.

Red Dragon,Malacca,1602

They had a stock of trade goods-tin,lead,cloth and half a ton of an automatic gun captured from the Portuguese.They also had a stock of gun powder.One of the men was a gunner and he would show the Indians how to operate the small cannon Keeling had given to the Zamorin.

The factory,the first English factory on Malabar coast,didn't prosper.When Keeling sailed away,the Zamorin,disappointed with the amount of help he had received,failed to supply spices.A year later,when the fleet returned from the East,three of the men were taken away.A man and the boy were left behind to learn the language.The man soon died of dysentery,the boy,Edward Pearce,would,25 years later,start the Company's trade at Basra.

The Company had selected India as one of the destinations for its third expedition.Its main task was to collect spices from the eastern islands,but it was also instructed to investigate the market for English woollen goods in exchange for spices at Aden.It was also to assess the possibility of buying textiles in India to exchange for spices in the Far East.Its three ships left England on 12 March 1607.The Consent left early and caught the trade winds.The Dragon,captained by William Keeling,and the Hector,captained by William Hawkins,missed the wind and lost six months as they were blown to Brazil and then back to West Africa.There,while they waited for a good wind to round the Cape,Keeling's men gave performances of Hamlet and Richard II.In the Indian Ocean,the winds for Aden were unfavourable. It was decided that the Dragon should go directly to the East and the Hector go to India.

Keeling(1578-1620)had commanded the Susanna on the second Company voyage in 1604.During this his men were reduced to 14 and a ship from the fleet,had vanished.He discovered the Cocos(Keeling)Islands in 1609,as he was going home from Banda to England.

Red Dragon,used by the Company for five voyages to the East Indies,was originally,Scourge of Malice,a 38 gun ship,ordered by Goerge Clifford,3rd Earl of Cumberland.She was built and launched at Deptford dock yard in 1595.The description of the ship varies from 600 to 900 tons;it was named Scourge of Malice by Queen Elizabeth I.The Earl had built the ship to attack the Spanish Main,after Sir Francis Drake was defeated at San Juan in 1595.The Earl travelled in the ship's first voyage,till Plymouth,when he was recalled by the Queen.The fleet travelled forward,and its main mast was damaged in a violent storm.After repairs,it began a voyage as a flag ship of a fleet of 20 vessels,on 6 March 1598.The Earl wanted to capture Brazil.The fleet attacked the fort at San Juan and castle of El Morro,on 16 June.Though the fleet achieved honour for the country,the Earl made only about a tenth of the money he invested on the voyage.

East India Company bought the ship for 3700 pounds,though the Earl asked for 4000.Its first voyage under Company was on 13 February 1601,and the Commander was James Lancaster.It came upto Nicobar Islands.It captured a ship on a voyage from Santhome,Chennai,and looted its cargo of spices.The second voyage was on 25 March 1604 and the Commander,Sir Henry Middleton.It came to Surat in its 10th voyage,in September,1612.It secured trading rights at Surat.It was in the next voyage,begun on 23 February 1615,Keeling as Captain,it came to Calicut.Keeling's briefing was to restore Asian trading links.Keeling tried to smuggle his pregnant wife aboard the ship,but was not allowed.
On his return,King James I appointed Keeling a Groom of the Chamber and in C.1618,he was named Captain of Cowes Castle,on the Isle of Wight,where he died in 1620.

Keeling Island

A fragment of Keeling's diaries survives,which record the performances of Hamlet,off the coast of Sierra Leone,on 5 September 1607 and at Socrota,in 31 March,1608,and Richard II in Sierra Leone,30 September 1607.The fragment is suspected to be forgery.
The last voyage of the ship was in October 1619,commanded by Robert Bonner.It was attacked by a Dutch fleet at Secoo,and was taken or sunk.

The Hamlet performance in this ship is the first recorded performance of that play.

© Ramachandran 

Read,FRANCOISE PYRARD IN CALICUT

1607:FRANCOIS PYRARD IN CALICUT

The French Traveller was kidnapped in Calicut

Three accounts by French travellers,Francois Pyrard,Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and Abbe' Carre',describe how everything changed in Portuguese India,during the 17th century.Of the three,Pyrard was in India,from 1608 to 1610,and was in Kerala.

Not much is known about Pyrard's early life.He came from Laval in northern France.Some businessmen from there and from Saint-Malo decided to set up a company to follow the Dutch and the English to the East.Two ships were commissioned and young Pyrard left with them from Saint-Malo in 1601,possibly as a purser.Storms delayed the expedition and it took over a year to reach the Maldives.As Pyrard's ship approached the islands,the captain was ill below decks,the first and second mate were drunk and the watch was asleep.The ship struck a reef.It was 2 July,1602.40 of the crew managed to get ashore with some of the ship's silver.The Maldivians arrested them,beat them,confiscated their silver and refused them food so that they were reduced to eating grass and rats.Many of them died.12 escaped and stole a ship,which they managed to sail to Quilon,in Kerala.The Portuguese seized them and consigned them to the galleys after which they were never heard of again.

Pyrard learned the local language in the islands.Then he became friendly with the Sultan and lived comfortably for five years.In 1607,the islands were invaded by some Bengalis,looking for Pyrard's ship's cannon.They rescued him and his three surviving companions and took them to Chittagong.From there,the Frenchmen took a ship to Calicut,hoping to meet up with the Dutch.The people of Zamorin received them warmly since they were also enemies of the Portuguese.However,just outside Calicut,Pyrard and two of his companions were kidnapped by some Portuguese.They were taken as prisoners to Cochin,where they were incarcerated to a prison so crowded that it was impossible to sleep lying down.They were then sent by ship to Goa.On board,a cable snapped and Pyrard was badly injured.

Pyrard's itinerary

When Pyrard arrived in Goa in 1608,he was very ill and shackled in irons.The chains were removed but he was weak to walk.He was carried to the Royal Hospital.It was founded by Alfonso de Albuquerque,Governor of Goa,and been supported by kings and viceroys.It was under the supervision of the Jesuits and was governed by elaborate rules t only admitted European single men,mostly soldiers.There were 1500 beds and Pyrard was tucked into one.He was impressed.

There were Indian servants always present and a Portuguese superintendent visited every hour.For supper on first day,Pyrard had,a large fowl roasted,with some dessert served on Chinese porcelain.He thought he is in the finest hospital in the world:

Beautifully draped,and lacquered with red varnish;some are chequered and some gilded;the sacking is of cotton,and the pillows of white calico filled with cotton;the mattresses and coverlets are of silk or cotton,adorned with different patterns and colours,the sheets etc are of very fine white cotton.Then came a barber,who shaved all our hair off;then an attendant brought water and washed us all over,and gave us drawers,a white shirt,a cap,and slippers,and also placed beside us a fan and and an earthen ware bottle of water for drinking,and a camber-pt,besides a towel and hand kerchief,which were changed every three hours.

Pyrard statue in Laval,without face

Despite the luxury,the hospital had a terrible reputation for mortality.A recent despatch to the king had reported that at least 300 or 400 men between the ages of 18-30 died there every year.25000 soldiers alone died there in the 17th century!

Three weeks later,Pyrard felt better,but was persuaded to remain there,till his companions recovered.When discharged,he was re arrested,taken to the prison.There was a private room for Christians.A month later,he was able to get a message to as French Jesuit,who made a plea on his behalf to the Viceroy.The Viceroy had considered executing Pyrard since he had violated the law against the French by travelling to the Portuguese East.After a month,he and his companions were released.Having no money,Pyrard enlisted as a soldier.Over the next two years,he was mostly in Goa.He wrote a full account of his life in Goa.There were 5000 Portuguese soldiers in Goa.

There were female slaves whose attraction was that they could play musical instruments,embroider or make sweets or preserves.And others that were virgins,for they,deem it no sin to have intercourse with their slaves.

Pyrard's fellow soldiers either lived with a woman or shared a lodging with a few colleagues.Those who hared were often supported by married woman or widows.Despite their dubious origin,the soldiers put on great show of being gentlemen.The Indian were amazed when we told them these fellows were sons of porters,cobblers,drawers of water and other vile craftsmen.

Pyrard street in Laval,France

Pyrard seemed to be extremely interested in the habits of the women,though there is no personal information about his actions.The women took their ease in their smocks or bajus,which are more transparent and fine than the most delicate crape of these parts;so their skin shows beneath as clearly as if they had nothing on;more than that,they expose the bosom to such an extent that one can see quite down to the waist....the women at Goa are exceedingly lewd,so amorous and so addicted to fleshly pleasures,that when they find the smallest opportunity,they fail not to use it.

These women,he wrote,used their servants and slaves to make assignations,even drugging their husbands so as to take their plasure,without risk.The viceroys would take any pretty woman they wanted,if necessary first sending their husbands away on official expeditions.

In 1609,an edict came from the king to the viceroy commanding him to expel any Dutch,English or French,in case they were spies.Pyrard managed to get a free passage on carrack going to Brazil.He received farewell sums from the viceroy,arch bishop and the rich,but his pocket was picked and the purse stolen.His companions helped him out and finally,he sailed in February,1610.He arrived back in his home town of Lavel,nearly ten years after his departure.It is said,he took to drink.But he published an account of his sojourn.
The second volume of The Voyage of Francois Pyrard of Laval to the East Indies contains a chapter,titled,The History of Kunhali,the Great Malabar Corsair,on Kunhali Marakkar.It almost runs into 19 pages,and differs with the accounts of historian De Cout9,who spoke to Kunhali and his hench man,Chinale in the Goa jail;it also differs from the account of Faria y Souza.

I am giving a very abridged version here,of the chapter on Kunhali(names unchanged):
During the viceroyalty of Dom Antonia de Noronha(1571-73),Kunhali the elder(uncle of the great corsair)native of Kurichi,eyed,Puthupatanam.With the Zamorin's permission,he built a fortress,Marakkar Kotta there.Their original house was at Kollam.They moved to Thikkodi about 1525.
On the death of the uncle,nephew Mahomet Kunhali Marakkar succeeded.He seized a ship from China;assisted the Captain and soldiers of the Queen Olala and also the Melique at Chaul.
By the end of 1591,the Viceroy Mathias de Albuquerque decided to send two armadas-one under Andre Furtado de Mendoza against the Raja of Jaffna and the second under Alvaro de Abranches against Kunhali.While approaching Ceylon,Furtado defeated a fleet of Kunhali,under Cutimusa,nephew of Kunhali,in a battle at Karativu.Cutimuasa escaped.
Just before the arrival of Alvaro,Jesuit captive,Francisco da Costa represented to the Zamorin,the advantages of a Portuguese alliance for the suppression of Kunhali.Alvaro was communicated with.The Viceroy agreed and a treaty was signed.Zamorin laid the foundation for a Catholic church.
The grand son of Vasco da Gama,Francisco da Gama(31) arrived as Viceroy in Goa on 22 May 1597.He became unpopular.He appointed his brother Dom Luis da Gama (30)as Commander of the armada against Kunhali.Though there was wide spread discontent against the appointment,Luis left Goa on 13 November 1597 to capture Kunhali.In a meeting with Luis at Calicut,the Zamorin demanded 30,000 patacoes and Portuguese soldiers.The Portuguese found this inadmissible,and declared Zamorin,an enemy.Luis returned.Zamorin altered his mind.By the end of 1598,the Zamorin camped outside Kunhali's fort,with a large army.In December,Luis left Goa.He had 1500 men.Arch Bishop Menezes was also leaving Goa,for Malabar.At a council at Kottakal,in which the Archbishop was present,a vote was taken for the attack on Kunhali.Then the Archbishop returned to Cochin,restrained the Cochin Raja and send a few ships to Malabar.
The forces were ready for the attack on 3 March,1599.Luiz da Sylva was the commander.on the 4th,a meteor was found in the night sky,which the Portuguese took as a bad omen.The fire signal was shown at midnight,instead of the early hours.da Sylva was shot through the head;two more commanders fell.Gama withdrew his force to Cochin;da Sylva's body was interred at Kannur.
Against the wishes of Gama,Furtado was made Chief Captain of Malabar.He came in December.The allied commanders,including the Zamorin met on 16 at Kunhali's ancestral home.The entire force was ready by February,1600.The final onslaught was planned on 7 March.Negotiations went on and Kunhali surrendered on 16 March.
Last of all came Kunhali with a black kerchief on his head,and a sword in his hand with the point lowered.He was at that time,a man of fifty,of middle height,muscular and broad shouldered.He walked between three of his chief moors.One of these was Chinale,a Chinese who had been a servant of Malaka,and said to have been the captive of the Portuguese,taken as a boy from a fusta and afterwards brought to Kunhali.
According to Pyrard's account,Kunhali fell at Zamorin's feet,but Furtado advanced,seizing Kunhali,by the arm.
The rest is history.

 Read,EDWARD BARLOW IN VALAPATTANAM

1670:EDWARD BARLOW IN VALAPATTANAM

Cows were costlier in Kerala than children 

Edward Barlow began writing a Journal,in captivity.He was held captive by a Dutch fleet in 1672,while he was working in the East India Company's merchant ship,The Experiment ,and taken to the Dutch stronghold of Batavia on Java.

He was confined there for a year,and to occupy his time,he began to draw and write up a journal of his voyages.Thereafter,he kept up his journal of his travels,until the end of his career.An extremely good draftsman,there are 127 coloured drawings in his manuscript,now at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.They are beautiful miniatures with accurate depictions of the ships portrayed,together with details of their armaments,rigging and flags.There are convincing action scenes with added vignettes of topography,fish,birds and animals.There are 55 pencilled outlines of ports and coast lines,in addition.The manuscript,has 225,000 words.The story of his first voyage for the Company -when he travelled to Mumbai,Surat,Goa and Malabar, is a graphic account of a seaman's life in the 17th century.

Journal of Barlow 1659-1703

From his Journal,we get details of his voyages to Valapattanam,Tanur,Ponnani, and Calicut.

Born near Manchester in 1642,Barlow grew up in a deprived house hold,according to Roy Moxham,who wrote,The Theft of India.His father was a poorly paid worker on the land and had six children.Barlow did odd jobs as a boy,on the land and in coal pits.This enabled him to buy clothes to replace the rags that had prevented him earlier from attending church.He left school at 13,after a rudimentary education,for an apprenticeship in the bleaching of textiles.Through a relative's friend,he gained a new apprenticeship,as chief master's mate of a Royal Navy ship,the Naseby.He was serving in it when it brought back Charles II at the Restoration.He worked on other war ships until 1662 and then moved to the merchant navy.He travelled to Portugal,Spain and Brazil.He swapped job between royal and merchant ships.

In 1672,on his second voyage for the Company,Barlow went to Java and Taiwan.He didn't know that war had been declared between England and the Dutch republic.Barlow's ship,The Experiment was intercepted by the Dutch and we got the Journal,as I said before.

Barlow made his first visit to the East as an ordinary sea man aboard the same ship.It was a 250 ton ship,with a crew of 60 and armed with 22 cannons,bound for India.It left England,together with two other Company ships in March 1670 and arrived at Bombay in September.There were some women on board ,who had come out to join their husbands in the Company's service.Several discovered that their husbands were already dead.

The ship took a few days to offload some of its cargo.Barlow noted that most of the people insider the fort were Indian Muslims or Portuguese-the Portuguese being paid he same as the English.He describes the strangely attired Indians outside the fort.

A week later,the ship discharged the rest of the cargo at Swally,near Surat.The shore was lined with the booths and tents of the local merchants.One of these merchants was engaged by each of the crew to purchase what they had brought to India and to sell them what they would carry home.

The ship then sailed to Goa.Barlow notes that although it had few commodities of its own,Goa's position and deep harbour made it a convenient place for trade.Since the Dutch had captured many of the Portuguese bases,there was little business.A laden ship went back to Portugal only every two or three years.

After leaving Goa,the ship continued down the coast to the Company's factory at Karwar,where it dropped off money and letters from England.Three days further south,it went up an estuary to the recently established Company base at Valapattanam.Some lead was off loaded for the Company to use in exchange for spices.Barlow bought some coconuts to take home to England as curios.He writes that the local people would not sell them cows,but that for a small sum,you may buy their children.One of the ship's men jumped into the water and disappeared ,presumed to have been taken by crocodiles.

From Valapattanam,the ship went south to Tanur and Ponnani to load the pepper that had been bought by the Company's factors.At first the Indians were wary of them,thinking they were Dutch-for there are few  in all East India of the country people but are fearful of them and cannot abide or love any of them,having been so absurd and their goods taken from them in so many places.

The ship was hit by an unseasonable storm.Barlow,being superstitious and distrstful of foreign religions,imagined this was a result of the inhabitants offering up as sacrifice one of their sons or daughters to their God,the Devil,and that Hellish Fiend,being offended at something,caused him to raise such a horrible tempest.

Going back north,the ship called at Calicut a few scattering houses,being destroyed by wars.Prostitutes were available cheap.Barlow was more shocked to see both men and women,some of the women heavily pregnant,wearing only a loin cloth.They collected a Company factor who wanted to go to Valapattanam.They also took on board three Dutchmen who were deserters from the Dutch East India Company at Cochin.At Valapattanam,they dropped the factor off and took on board the man he was replacing to carry him up to Karwar.

On 15 January 1671,Barlow watched India,disappear from sight.

Between 1670 and 1703,Barlow made nine voyages to India and the East.He rose to be chief mate.He was disappointed at not being made the captain.In 1683 he had a fight with the captain at Sumatra.he was put ashore and had to work his passage back to England.In 1692,while in India,he had severely caned a sea man for insubordination.The man had subsequently died.On the ship's return to England,his widow engaged a lawyer.Some of the dead man's ship mates supported her and,to avoid going before the courts,Barlow had to give her a sum of 50 pounds,a huge sum then.

Barlow was married  in 1678 to a maid servant of a friend in London.Two days after the marriage,he sailed for Jamaica.While he was away,his wife was caught in a house fire and miscarried.In 1695,their youngest child died of consumption.In 1705,Barlow was finally made the captain of an East Indiaman.Under his command,the Liampo left Portsmouth for the Red Sea.Before he left,Barlow made his will,leaving everything to his wife and children.Off the Mozambique coast,his ship was lost.Fortunately,his Journal was not on board.Hence this short note on him.

Please read,Life and Loves of Catherine Cooke in Kerala

WITH JASWANT SINGH IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

Jaswant Singh avoided controversial sites

The cry of a lakh children still reverberates in my soul.An everlasting memory.Only Israel can give  such a silencing cry.

Yad Vashem is located on the western slope of Mount Herzel or the Mountain of Remembrance in Jerusalem. It is the official memorial to the Jewish victims of Holocaust.It is a 44.5 acre complex 2638 feet above sea level,containing the Holocaust History Museum,Children's Memorial and Hall of remembrance.I was not at all prepared for the cry amidst darkness and among stars when I was leaving the Children's Memorial.An immaculate conception.

Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem is a Hebrew word meaning A Place and a Name.It comes in the Book of Isaiah,56:5:"Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters:I will give them an everlasting name,that shall not be cut off."

Thus the name,Yad Vashem conveys the idea that it is a national depository for the names of Jewish victims who will not be remembered otherwise.It will never be cut off.It rips apart  the very foundations of Nazism.As a memorabilia,I bought a VCD of the Eichmann trial.Adolf Eichmann,a Nazi Lieutenant Colonel,one the main organizers of Holocaust,underwent trial in Jerusalem.

Hall of Names

I was in Israel to report the first ever visit by an Indian Foreign Minister-Jaswant Singh.Jaswant was to land in Bengurion air port from Russia.We traveled from Newdelhi to Dubai;from there to Abudhabi where Ambassador K C Singh was our host.From there to Amman,capital of Jordan and then by road to Jerusalem.It was a four day visit of Jaswant starting July 1,2000.We reached Jerusalem on the Sabbath day,June 30.We traveled by the King Hussein Bridge or Allenby Bridge,past three border crossings.The Allenby Bridge that connects Jordan with West Bank and crosses the Jordan river,comes after 70 kilometers to the west of Amman,after the first crossing on the Jordanian side.You can't walk the bridge which is 0.24 kilometers.A bus travel is mandatory after paying the $ 29 toll.The bridge is named after British  General Edmund Allenby who replaced an old Ottoman bridge in 1918 after capturing Jerusalem in 1917.He entered Jerusalem on 17,December on foot through the Jaffa Gate instead of using horses or vehicles to show respect for the old city.He was the first Christian to control Jerusalem after many centuries.

Allenby entering Jerusalem on foot

This is the only way for the Palestinians to cross.Others can use the Northern crossing of Bet She'an,which is devoid of the long queue of Allenby.There are direct buses from Amman to Nazareth in the Old City.

Since it was a Sabbath day,the lift in the King David Hotel was stopping on every floor.Jews are not supposed to touch anything,even the switches on the lift,Yehonathan Tommer,the Israeli journalist friend who met me later,enlightened me.We went to the Old City in the night.I bought a couple of paintings.Lovers were having a good time after Sabbath.

The Old City is in East Jerusalem which was captured by Israel in the six day war in 1967.In the morning I went to the Wailing Wall,overlooking the Temple Mount,the site of the ancient temple with only the Western Wall at its foot remaining,now with the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.Three religions from the same root in proximity.The Palestinians,it is said, have their Parliament built underground.Jaswant  went to the Wailing Wall built by King Solomon,and prayed.It is a place where Jews pray.

I went to Bethlehem which fall under  Palestinian Administration.I prayed in the Church of Nativity,bought a Hebrew Bible with Olive covering,an Olive engraving of Jesus and a candle holder.

A foreign minister from the BJP cabinet visiting a Jewish state was a bold initiative.Palestine too was in his itinerary.It was a postponed trip;Egypt was in the first list.Home Minister L K Advani had been to Israel in June.Camp David was behind;Egypt,the prominent Arab country had accepted Israel a reality.King Hussein of Jordan and King Hassan of Morocco were maintaining good relations with Israel.King Hassan's Principal Adviser,Andre Azouley was a practicing Jew.The Hotel was full of Americans.The boss of both Israel and Saudi Arabia were the same-Americans.

President of Israel,Ezer Weizman had visited Newdelhi in 1997.

When we were there Jyoti Basu was also there.The visits by several Indian Chief Ministers had resulted in more than 180 joint ventures.Lot of them in agriculture.While visiting a diary farm near Tel Aviv,I met a few Cochin Jews who migrated.One Woman told me she lived near the Market Road in Ernakulam.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak had called  the relationship between India and Israel "intuitive".Jaswant referred to this expression in his dinner lecture,'Foreign Policy Planning in an Uncertain World', the next day.He said:"We were thrown out of the loop of West Asia,particularly in the Post Gulf war scenario.We have been now drawn into the process of peace here.It is a beginning".He again used the word intuition  when he summed up his impressions at the port city of Haifa to us.The flight to Haifa,to see the War Memorial,was a trip down the memory lane for Jaswant.The Jodhpur Lancers led by his ancestors had helped liberate Haifa from the Turkish-German Forces during World War 1.The two Indian Cavalry Regiments of the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade under the command of Gen.Allenby had fought the Battle of Haifa on September 20,1918.Haifa Historical Society documents reveal that 900 Indian soldiers laid down their lives in the battle,for the Allied Forces.Major Dalpat Singh  who got the Military Cross is known as the Hero of Haifa.Captain Aman Singh Bahadur ,Dafedar Jor Singh got the Indian Order of Merit.Captain Anop Singh and Second Lieutenant Sagat Singh were awarded Military Cross.

Haifa War Memorial

Apart from Barak,Jaswant met President Weizman,Foreign Minister David Levy,Minister of Regional Development Shimon Peres and Opposition Leader Ariel Sharon.

As we crossed the border to Gaza,the difference was visible.Palestine had not recovered from the terrible destiny it had at the hands of Israel.Jaswant skirted the sensitive sites just paying a visit to the library of the Al-Azhar University in Gaza City that was funded by India.He met Palestinian leaders including Yasser Arafat and Palestinian Minister for International Co Operation,Dr Nabil Sha'ath.He termed his visit to Gaza a pilgrimage because it was the first substantive visit by an Indian leader after the Nasser-Nehru dialogue at Gaza in 1960.

Jaswant avoided the controversial sites and people.He didn't see Faisal Husseini,Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and unofficial Palestinian Foreign  Minister at Orient House in East Jerusalem.Jaswant avoided him so as not to anger Israel by giving an implied recognition to Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian State.He also didn't visit the Temple Mount, where the Palestinians have 'illegally' built an underground mosque in Solomon's Stables.

I felt we have one Ayodhya;some have a hundred.For the first time in my life,I heard gun shots just behind me,in Palestine.

Reference:My article with Yehonathan Tommer/The Pilgrim's Progress/The Week,July 16,2000
See my blog,WITH K R NARAYANAN IN CHINA

WITH K R NARAYANAN IN CHINA

His birth day in China

Though I have worked for a big newspaper with right leanings for 20 years, my political orientation had always been Left, in the larger sense of the term. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was assigned to accompany the then Vice President K R Narayanan on his visit to China. It was for an entire week during 21-28 October 1994. I was in Thiruvananthapuram. The ISRO espionage scandal had just broken when I left India.

Prior to the trip, there was an official briefing by the Foreign Secretary Salman Haidar and Joint Secretary Shivsankar Menon, grand son of the legendary K P S Menon. It was written in the horoscope of K P S Menon that his son and grand son would occupy the same position he had held. My college mate Venu Rajamony, IFS, who speaks Mandarin fluently and was serving  in our Embassy in China was also present. I remember him, asking me whether it was my first visit to the South Block. Well, it was.

The aircraft that we boarded was Rajhans, one of the three  Air India One Boeing 747 special air crafts operated by the Air Force to fly the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister. The Other two being Rajdoot and Rajkamal. Each cost the IAF $ 9.34 Billion. Each 46 seater plane is called the Boeing Business Jet, BBJ. We boarded the flight in the morning from the Old Palam South parking , the Air Force Base. There was a technical snag and we were asked to disembark and were sent to a five star hotel to take rest. The flight took off in the afternoon.

Narayanan with Jiang Zemin

I met the doyen of Indian journalism, Nikhil Chakroborty of the Mainstream inside the flight and he spoke of the olden days of the CPI ; about the Communist stalwarts, M N Govindan Nair, EMS, AKG , C Achyutha Menon and P K Vasudevan Nair. He spoke about the vacillating nature of EMS during the party split of 1964. E M S, he said, had tried to join the Editorial Board of the Indian Express. We met again in Thiruvananthapuram when he came to inaugurate the Kollam edition of the Daily I was working in. We walked for few hours and he bought some curios.

In Beijing, I stayed in the Shangri-La Hotel, Room No 917. The double room rent was $100 +15% tax. I shared the room with V K Madhavan Kutty, former Editor of Mathrubhumi.Though retired, he had found a place in the entourage because of his friendship with Narayanan. He asked me whether I can share the room with him because he was spending from own purse for food. I agreed. He had brought an electric kettle and tea bags. I still have the instructions sheet from the hotel which says: Tipping of waiters is not customary in China.The hotel was run by the Chinese Army as partner, the receptionist Charlie Shi told me. I got a Christmas greeting card from him; it is signed 05.12.1994.

Great Hall of the People

The same evening, there was a five course dinner at the Great Hall of People, hosted by Rong Yiren,Vice President. Not all were invited. Nikhil  told me that he will get me invited, keeping Madhavankutty out, since he was not representing any paper. He kept his word.The invitation which is still with me, says my table number was 8. N Ravi, Editor of The Hindu and Kalyani Sankar, New Delhi Bureau Chief of Hindustan Times shared the table with me because we were vegetarians. The Chinese ran a five course vegetarian dinner for us. I still remember a kozhukattai with vegetables inside which I am yet to come across in India.

Myself and an old friend K P Nair, of the Economic Times, went to the Mao Mausoleum, in the middle of Tienanmen Square in the morning. I had butterflies in my stomach, seeing the bloodless, embalmed body of Mao Zedong. Mao had been the Chairman, from 1945 until his death in 1976. The  Mausoleum stands on the previous site of the Gate of China, the main gate of the city during the Ming and Qing dynasties.Mao had wished to be cremated, but was embalmed to listen to the gun shots of Tienanmen in 1989. I had taken a week long dictation from Kannada writer U R Anantha Murthy,for a series on the incident. He was in China, during the time.

Mao Mausoleum in Tienanmen Square

For Narayanan, there was a welcome ceremony in the Great Hall the next day. We entered the Hall through the North gate. The ceremony was at the court yard outside East gate. Narayanan was welcomed "as an old friend" of China, because he was India's first Ambassador to China in 1962, the year in which we lost the war. Official talks between Narayanan and Yiren were held at Hebie Hall. Two MOU s were signed. The lunch for Narayanan was in Western Hall and for us a Buffet was arranged in our hotel.Then we moved to Zgungnanhai where Narayanan met President Jiang Zemin and then to Diayutai State Guest House where Narayanan had a talk with Li Ruihan, Chairman of Chinese People's Political Committee Conferences, followed by a banquet in the same venue at Fang Feinan Pavilion. Narayanan was staying in the Guest House. Salman Haidar had met the Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in the Guest House.

Dead Mao inside Mausoleum

On October 23, Sunday, myself and K P Nair decided to go on our own to see the Great wall. The taxi driver got us a very young interpreter and guide, Jennifer, his girl friend.Her original name was different. She had studied spoken English and had selected an English name to introduce herself to the tourists. She asked us whether India has something like the Forbidden City; we told her we had harems. I didn't know then Chikka Veera Rajendra, the last Kodagu King had even his father's youngest wife in his harem. Jennifer said she and her boyfriend wanted to get married as early as possible. But there was a long queue for apartments because everything is state owned. One can marry only if an apartment is alloted. So, she said, the boy and girl at times, manipulate a marriage certificate much before the actual marriage.

In the afternoon, Jennifer took us to a restaurant where she assured,there will be something vegetarian. An owen was placed in front of me on my table, with a crab and  cooked Chinese Cabbage. I ate some cabbage leaves. It was compensated by the buffet dinner at Ta Yuan hosted by Bhaskar Roy, Counsellor at our Embassy. Narayanan had left by a Chinese special flight to Dunhuang, to visit Mogao Grottoes or the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. It forms a system of 492 temples on the Silk Road. The caves contain Buddhist murals spanning a period of 1000 years. Narayanan had his family members, Usha, Dr P C Mohan, Chitra and Chandrika,with him.

Avalokiteswara Mural in Cave 57

Since Narayanan was not in Beijing, we were totally free on October 24. We were asked to see the  Great Wall, Ming Tomb and Summer Palace. Since I had already seen the Great Wall, I thought I will skip the tourist places and do some work. I met Sam Venkatesh, Head of Motorola and Pradeep Mathur, Country Manager of Chase Manhattan Bank. Both of them had a lot to tell about  Deng Xiao Ping's daughters, Deng Nan and Deng Rong. They had to be bribed if some one was looking for a prime property. Pradeep said Deng was President of the Chinese Chess Association! Deng, as you know, was famous for the quote, It doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black as long as it catches the mice.

I also met Rajiv Chandra who was working for a news agency and Sheela, the correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor. They told me how the surveillance system of the party works. They also waxed eloquent about the so called resurgence of Christianity and democracy. Nikhil was busy meeting his personal friends in the Chinese Polit Buro and Central Committee. At nightfall, we were invited by S  Jaishankar, Minister at embassy, for a buffet dinner at his residence in Jianguoyenwah diplomatic apartments.

Narayanan was taken to Xian by a special Chinese aircraft next day, October 25, to see Terracota Warrior's Museum and Huaqing Hot springs. I went to the Friends Store, bought a couple of paintings. One, The Thousand Children in silk, later, tore off in the middle, while I was shifting from my rented home, to own home in Thiruvananthapuram.

S K Verma, Second Secretary hosted the lunch at Omar Khayyam Hotel. On 26, we were flown to Shanghai by Rajhans. I stayed in Jin Jiang Hotel.The rent for the room was $ 115.50 + 15% tax. In the evening there was a banquet by the Vice Mayor, Xu Kuangdi in the Magnolia Hall of the hotel.

Before going to China, I had gone through Narayanan's bio- data and found that a beautiful story was in store for me in Shanghai-next day, October 27 was Narayanan's birth day.To do the story, I had to speak to him. I met Arif S Khan, Joint Secretary and told him my dilemma; none knew Narayanan was having his birthday in China! Arif promised me he will do something-while we were returning after the banquet, Arif pushed me into the lift with Narayanan. I spoke to Narayanan in the lift. It seemed he too was not aware of his birth day. He said he doesn't celebrate it at all; and for Keralites, the star is important, not the date.I had a front page story for my daily, from Shanghai.

Narayanan spoke to the students of the Fudan University, the next morning-it was his lone speech in the week long itinerary. The President of the University, Prof Yan Fujin received Narayanan to Sir Run Run Shaw Hall. In his speech, Narayanan indirectly solicited China's support for India's entry into the U N Security Council. He reminisced that India had stepped away in 1955, for  China to get into the Security Council. He quoted from a letter, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sent to the Indian Chief Ministers on 20 July 1955. Nehru had said: "Informally suggestions have been made that China would be taken into the United Nations but not in the Security Council. We cannot, of course, accept this as it means falling out with China and it would be very unfair for a great country like China not to be in the Security Council.We have, therefore, made it clear to those who suggested this that we cannot agree to this suggestion.We have even gone a little further and said that India is not anxious to enter the Security Council at this stage, even though as a great country she ought to be there. The first step to be taken is for China to take her rightful place,and then the question of India might be considered separately". (Jawaharlal Nehru-Letters to Chief Ministers.vol 4,page 237).

I personally doubt whether Nehru was sincere.

Chinese Cabbage

Narayanan also remembered Kerala. He said it was from the shores of China Admiral Zheng Ho set sail in the 15th Century on his epic voyages and visited Kerala years before Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut. He referred to the part played by the pilgrim scholars  Xuan Xang, Fa Xian, Kumara Jiva and Bodhi Dharma in the cultural exchanges between India and China.

We went to Fudan passing over Yangpu bridge and returned via Nanpu bridge.

We reached Hong Kong on 28th and stayed in the Hilton Hotel. My room was 2224. A plan to demolish the hotel was on. So, I have kept the swiping key as a relic. The 26 storey land mark Hilton was closed in May, 1995 and demolished to make way for Cheung Kong Centre. The book, The Private Life of Chairman Mao written by his personal physician Li Zhisui was just out. I bought a copy. I met P K Vasudevan Nair's son Kesavan Kutty in his video shop; his nephew M P Gopalan organised a dinner, in which a few Keralites were present.

On the return flight, J J Tharayil, Chief Security Laison Officer , an I B officer belonging to Kerala, took me to Narayanan's cabin. Narayanan asked me whether it was possible to trace the poem ,Kanthara Chandrika, which he wrote in Malayala Manorama while he was studying in C M S College, Kottayam. I got it traced, and sent to him, after my return.

While in Jin Jiang hotel, a lady foreign service officer of China came to me to brief on India and China. She didn't seem to care for the 1962 India-China war. It appeared to me that a war will be remembered  only by the losers. So we remember. I asked her whether she has heard the name of a place called Kerala; is she aware of a Leftist movement in Kerala and Naxalbari in Bengal, which was called by Chinese Radio termed  as 'The Thunder in Spring?".

She shook her head. No. Never.

See my blog,WITH JASWANT SINGH IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE