former Mayor of the city. Dr Jatgap himself worked for Sandoz, had married a Swiss lady and settled down in Basel. It was very nice of him to accompany us. When I met Tony Der Hovesepian I found him warm and welcoming. He seemed to be in his late seventies, tall and erect and had always lived in Bern after taking up the job with UPU. He hailed originally from Armenia, an ancient country on the border of Asia and Europe. In later years it became a part of the Soviet Union. It was the first country in the world which declared Christianity as the State Religion. Over the years, the country went through much turmoil. At the turn of the century the Turks massacred almost a million and a half Armenians including women and children just because they belonged to Christianity. The massacre seriously affected Der Hovsepian family, which with great difficulty and risk to life, fled to Lebanon. Tony was born there, but over the years found himself working with the post office in Kuwait, which was then run by the British Postal Agency. From there he joined UPU in 1965, three years before Joshi, as a Third Secretary, the same level as Joshi. Tony worked there till 1996 when he took an early retirement – about five years before it was due. After retirement Tony settled down in Bern along with his wife Therese and their three sons; Patrick Joseph, Pascal Eugen and Philippe Alain. UPU Headquarter in Bern is a humungous structure, befitting an international organization. As a symbol of UPU and International Telecommunications Union, which was earlier headquartered in Bern, the Swiss Government has erected over hundred years ago two wonderful memorials. They are in two different squares of Bern and each of them is about four times the size of Hutatma Smarak in Mumbai. After seeing the office where Joshi worked, we also went to visit the house he had stayed in. It is in a small suburb of Bern called Neuenegg. Here on a street called Tulpenweg lies a beautiful apartment block where Joshi and Der Hovesepian had their flats. Joshi’s flat 52
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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
