Reprints from Soviet News and Views. from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa. Soviet teacher adopts Afghan child Shakufa was the only survivor of a rebel raid on a Pashto village near Kandaghar in Afghanistan. She was five years old then. Her parents and all the villagers were gunned down by the _ rebels, and the houses set on fire. The Soviet sol- diers who forced the rebels back, took Shak- ufa to Kabul’s orphan- age. An eyewitness of the murders, the girl was in deep shock. It was in that or- phanage that a Soviet teacher of Russian in a Kabul industrial train- ing centre, Zoya Shen- Shakufa, second from right, at dinner with the family. From the other side drik, saw the arrival. The girl’s story was exactly like her own: Zoya Shen- drik had by a = mira- cle escaped death dur- ing World War II. The Soviet woman decided to adopt the Afghan child. On. comple- tion of the formalities, she obtained a memo- randum from the For- eign Ministry of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, and took Shakufa from the or- phanage in the winter of 1985. Soon they left for Tashkent, where the Shendriks now reside. Zoya Shendrik has three sons; the two. elder have families of their own, while the youngest, Pavel, is a senior student. The Shendriks warmly wel- comed Shakufa in their . home. Full of vim and vigour, she is now a member of.a second grades Abroad thoughts from home by Kaberi Dasgupta In our March 12 is- sue, the col- umn Abroad Thoughts from home some- how got mangled dur- ing our typesetting pro- cess. The result was an entire page was miss- ing. So here we present the COMPLETE aarti- cle, with deep apologies to Kaberi. Where was I last March? (Not buried under textbooks, | at any rate.) Ah, yes - my family and I were tour- ing South India. Touring: The word ‘concocts . an image of the cool, un- ruffied traveller, seated -comfortably in an_air- conditioned bus, - be- ing gently guided from trap. to trap. But where is the novelty in that? Adventur- ers that we. were, we decided to chart our ewn course toward the southern tip of India. Thus on 9 March 1985, we drove into the Brin- davan Gardens. These gardens, es- tablished as a resort for a ruler of the former kingdom of Mysore, ri- val anything that the *Love Boat” ever offered in terms of romantic set- tings.. Colour greets the eye at every glance: tiers of bouganvil- las, marigolds, lilies ... all in the spectacular shades found only im the tropics, surrounded by lush grass. The stone paths that weave around the flower beds are bordered by foun- tains. The atmosphere can only be spoiled by the knowledge that the price of this extrava- gance was exploitation. (Of course, there is nothing unusual about that.) However, we re- member the Brindavan Gardens for other rea- sons.... There were two ho- tels within the grounds of the gardens. One was a palacial structure that towered above all. The other, hidden be- hind the bushes, was a nondescript | tourist lodge. My sisters —— oa nena ne oo a and I indicated which of the two we ferred, but we were overruled. (Money is a great source of power.) We were soon unpack- ing at the lodge. My mother and 1 were deserted in the room as the rest of the. family was too impa- tient to wait for us. While I replaced the hotel’s sheets with our own, mom began. to explore the cupboards and closets. I had de- cided long ago that all doors in the vicinity of the equator should remain closed, © given the abundant Sora and ‘fauna of the region. My hypothesis was con- firmed when I heard a cry from the bathroom. Look at what’s in| this closet!” ”"Why?” I oe being a prudent person. -*’Come here!” in- ‘sisted my mother. The closet contained several. hundred individuals, all of the cockroach family. "What should we do?” asked mom. _girl’s : pre-. the situation night. After i promised The ever popular TU-154. Union to 55 countries. customers. exported to 17 countries. 9,200 AIRCRAFT EXPORTED The export of Soviet aircraft and land-based technology has grown by forty per cent over the past five years. To date, a total of 5,200 civilian aircraft have been sold by the Soviet The world market shows a steady demand for Antonov (AN) planes. A total of 1,300 AN planes have been sold to 42 European, African, Asian and Latin American countries. The AN planes are efficient and safe and can operate on unpaved runways, a feature particularly valued by foreign According to Vasily Studenikin, General Director of the © USSR Aviaexport Foreign Trade Association, there is also a high demand for all: IL Models, TU-134s and TU-154s. The Soviet Yak-40, a medium range passenger plane, has been Aviaexport also trains ground and flight crews. 8 for domestic routes. *“Leave,” was my immediate response. We. finally. decided (after having | _ bolted the closet door) that we would rally our courage, and tolerate . not to horrify my sis- ters by telling them of our discovery, we went to see the dancing foun- tains. The dancing fou tains are the night- time attraction of Brin- davan Gardens. Ay: bridge, across the river ‘that divides the gar- dens, leads to the north side. Music drifts in the air, and the foun- | ‘tains, whose waters are coloured by light, rise and _ fall, in rows and layers, in synchrony with the melodies. — After the show, we had dinner at the larger ho- tel (small recompense), and. then returned to our room. A mattress had been laid out on the floor for my par- ents as there was only one. bed. Tired by the for one — ing,” chuckled dad. day’ s travelling, we all decided to go to sleep. I awoke in the mid- dle of the night. hear- ing my parents convers- ing in excited whispers. *Don’t worry: I killed it .“° said dad. "What - about the others?” demanded mom. coe eI think squashed them.” _. Mom ‘immediately jumped up, madly rubbing and scratching herself, and turned on the lights. : "Oh, you those things that you crushed were - just the flow- ers that you were wear- Apparently — our neighbors, finding their quarters in the closet uncomfortable, had de- cided to join mom and dad, much to the lat- ter’s consternation. "I’m not going to sleep with those things all over the place,” de- _clared my mother. Continued on Page 15 SSE es Me rncy: March March Tem 19873