hi Andy! Interesting background. I had a disturbing exchange once in Washington with a Chinese fellow employee who was a visiting scholar. In the beginning we were quite friendly and he once confided that in China they had been taught to view India as a "dangerous" country - I responded that it was a backhanded compliment.
One day the young man came wearing a crown (I think it was Halloween or something). It was a bit odd and mistaking familiarity for friendship I had remarked that he would make an excellent emperor for China. Suddenly in a stentorian voice he declared sternly pointing a finger at me - China is a democracy. China is a democracy. At first we thought he was joking and that seemed to feed him more! I did get a bit annoyed at what I perceived to be him browbeating us into accepting his claim and said something about everyone knows the truth. There was no dialogue after this. My father was recruited by the Indian air force in 1963 either right after or during the Chinese invasion of India (or as they put it claiming back their illegally occupied territory). I recently found a priceless National Geographic issue from 1963 at my in-laws place and they let me take it and send it to my dad - it contained photos of war preparations at that time. Radhika
