special deluxe bus for travelling to Simla from Delhi. But it rained cats and dogs en route and the top of the bus started leaking. Water started pouring inside and directly onto us. We were totally drenched. It was very cold and we were shivering. Chandigarh was much talked about in those days. It was designed by a well-known French-Swiss architect Corbusier. We thought the girls would like it. But they did not like it at all. Once or twice they had to use the toilet at the bus stop. It was incredibly filthy. Girls saw that toilet and I could see that they felt suffocated. If possible, they would have caught a flight back to Bern the same day.’ Obviously, Joshi had to keep on back burner his idea of returning to India.
What were the reasons behind his restlessness in Switzerland? Did those working with him have an inkling of what was going on in his mind? When this topic was broached, Tony recalled, ‘Many sincere persons were unhappy about some aspects of the way UN agencies operated. We were generally paid very high salaries – often our pay scales were about 30% higher than those prevailing in the highest echelons of that country. Plus we had generous benefits of pension and other service perks. For our Technical Assistance Programmes for the developing world we used to hire local consultants and their fees were also very high. Our administrative costs were also high. We had to maintain our status, operate at a certain level. As a result much of the budget sanctioned as “Aid” was spent in this manner. Sharad and I, just like our other colleagues, used to attend many UN conferences in Geneva, New York or other places and we did not find them particularly productive. There was therefore a general sense of unhappiness. Years in Switzerland
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