the need arose, their children would be left in our custody and vice versa. I particularly recall an incident when we were invited by the Egyptian Director General of the IB in Bern for a dinner party to which Joshis were not invited. Being an Armenian, their former neighbouring nation, perhaps Egyptians may have thought that I would like Egyptian food. We kept our only child, then, Patrick with Joshis that evening. We were rather worried how he had got along with them and when we pressed the bell late at night after returning from the party we were rather apologetic. We had feared that our son might have troubled Joshis a lot in our absence. But when Leela opened the door, Patrick was happily playing with Sharad. In fact he started crying when we took him home! It was an entirely different Sharad I saw that day! ‘Joshis were quite settled in the western culture. French was the official language in IB and they all spoke impeccable French. They were happy with the Western food and manners. He loved to drink but always in moderation. I do not recall a single incident when he got drunk. He was particular about living within limits and remaining sober. As a family, they were quite happy in Bern. I don’t think that the notion of raising their daughters in the Indian environment would have prompted his decision to return to India. ‘Sharad and I would often play chess together. Sometimes our families would also share that game with each other. He was always very good at it and would win. One day, I saw in his home a book lying on a table which I happened to pick up. How to Play Chess was the title. Out of curiosity I borrowed it and read it the same day. The next day when we sat down for the game, I won! Joshi and Leela could hardly believe that I could defeat him! Leela asked curiously, “How could he win?” to which Joshi replied, “He played better.” I was quite surprised myself that I won. Perhaps it was the effect of having read that book! But something happened afterwards for which I don’t Years in Switzerland
Q
55
