Thousand
Full Moon: P N Ramachandran
Contributed
by: P N Ramachandran
I joined
government service first in Tamil Nadu State Secretariat and then I was
transferred to the IFS (Indian Foreign Service B). We had to alternately serve
at the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs in the Central
Secretariat, New Delhi and then at the Indian Embassy abroad to which we might
be posted.
My first
posting abroad was at Addis Ababa. Ethiopia was then quite friendly with India.
During that posting there was armed rebellion by the Crown Prince against the
Emperor Haile Selassie (much milder than the later one which made the country
into a Republic), earth tremors etc. The Ambassador was from one of India's
princely families. He had faced civil wars in his other postings abroad and so
he even enjoyed the rebellion at Addis Ababa. However he became extremely
nervous at the earth tremors. The Ambassador's residence also developed mild
damage then. The Embassy provided tents for the Ambassador and all the
officials. The Ambassador and his wife were sleeping in the tent in the garden
at their residence. I had to keep company for him; so I slept in another tent
with my family in that compound. We found another residence and shifted the
Ambassador thereto. He left Ethiopia soon after but his successor stated that
that the residence was not convenient! These are the pin-pricks in smaller
Embassies abroad! In all we had comparatively speaking a good time in that
country and enjoyed our stay there. Due to nearness to the Equator or some such
reason there was shortage of oxygen in the atmosphere. We were advised to leave
the City (which is on a plateau) and go down to other places once in 6 weeks at
least. It was pleasant to leave the uniformly cold city and enjoy the warmer
climate outside. Thanks and best wishes
P N
Ramachandran
