KARZAI IN INDIA Karzai turns nostalgic on a visit to Shimla t was literally walking years!” Karzai exclaimed. down memory lane “The bathroom is luxuri- for Afghan President ous now. I remember I used Hamid Karzai as he to fetch a bucket of warm took a long stroll on water from the ground floor NovemberI 16 and visited to have a bath as there was his old haunts in Shimla, no geyser then in my room,” where he spent seven years he told the dazed caretaker. as a student more than two Karzai then drove down to decades ago. On a sunny his hotel for lunch and met and slightly nippy autumn a waiting family and an old morning, he set out on foot friend, Shyam Khanna. to the vice-regal lodge, the Himachal Pradesh Chief residence of the British Minister Virbhadra Singh viceroys during the colonial called on the Afghan times. President in the afternoon. Karzai turned nostalgic “It is indeed a matter of as he recalled his student great pride for us that a stu- days in this picturesque hill dent of the Himachal resort. Addressing students Pradesh University is now a and teachers at the head of state. We hope Himachal Pradesh Mr. Karzai will visit the University from where he town again,” Singh said earned his MA in political President Karzai signing autographs of students of Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla. after the meeting. science in 1983, he candid- In the evening, Karzai ly spoke about struggling to learn the English The Afghan leader went to almost each drove downtown to the Mall, the heart of language as a student. and every nook and corner of the rambling Shimla, which was crowded as usual with “I did not know a word of English when I vice-regal lodge built in the 19th century locals as well as holidaymakers. “If you do arrived here but soon I picked up the lan- and walked its grassy lawns. He candidly not go to the Mall every evening, you don’t guage. In fact, my first attempts at learning confessed: “I fell in love with the magical deserve to be called a Shimlaite,” Karzai had the language were by studying botany and charms of this hill town the moment I told the university audience. Dressed impec- using a dictionary in my room located at the arrived here in 1977.” cably in his trademark cape, the tall Afghan edge of the university,” he recalled. The Afghan leader walked on briskly to President smiled and waved at surprised Karzai also recalled popular points and the university complex, even as his ministe- passers-by and owners of stores where he walks in downtown Shimla and the simple rial colleagues and security men had a dif- had shopped during his student days. life of the townsfolk in those days. “I still ficult time keeping pace with him. He He would stop and point out several places recall that lilting song from Hindi film stopped at a guesthouse room in a wooded along the Mall road to colleagues walking ‘Mausam’ –– ‘Dil dhoondhata hai phir wohi area at the edge of the campus and he was with him. After spending about an hour at fursat ke raat din’,” he said to cheers and led inside it by a caretaker. “Oh! This place the Mall, he drove back to his hotel in time applause from the audience. has really changed a lot in the last 23 to catch a view of a spectacular sunset. ! India-Afghanistan symposium on agricultural cooperation fghanistan President Hamid Karzai scientists to halt desertification in Desertification, the three-day event organ- said his country needed Indian agri- Afghanistan, he sought sharing of experi- ised by National Academy of Agricultural A scientists’ help in tackling environ- ence and expertise. Karzai said Afghanistan Sciences (NAAS) deliberated on the theme mental problems of water management and used to be the biggest exporter of raisins. “converting deserts into oases”. deforestation to check desertification. “In fact, in the late 1970s, it had achieved Among the speakers was World Food “We are eagerly waiting for your help to self-sufficiency in agricultural products, but Programme country director GianPietro protect our environment. Today there is no war, drought, mismanagement and destruc- Bordignon. water in Afghanistan... We need serious, tion took away that,” he said. “India must Earlier, M.S. Swaminathan, president of thoughtful application of science to man- do everything to keep away deforestation, NAAS, said a majority of the population in age water,” he said after inaugurating the wastage of water. Degradation of environ- India and Afghanistan depend on agricul- ‘Indo-Afghanistan Symposium on ment is a worldwide matter,” he said. With ture. The arid areas of both the countries Agriculture’ in New Delhi on November 19. 2006 being celebrated as the U.N. need technologies which can help to Looking for help from Indian agricultural International Year of Deserts and increase income and employment. ! I N D I A R E V I E W D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 5.