March 1974 to the National Institute of Community Development in Hyderabad where he had expressed a wish to do a course there between 15 July and 31 December 1974. His correspondence with Mahatma Phule Agriculture University at Rahuri is also available where he had expressed a wish to visit some of their projects. Two years later, on 26 March 1976, he had written from Bern a letter to a Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office in Delhi expressing his wish to return to India to do a project related to agriculture and the draft of that project was also enclosed. He had enquired whether some vacant land could be made available for that purpose and had also added that he would “buy it from the government and does not expect any assistance.” Copy of that letter was also sent to the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra. The reply from PMO Secretariat dated 5 April 1976 is available. It applauded Joshi’s desire and hoped that Government in Maharashtra would answer all his queries. But response or even acknowledgement from Maharashtra Government is not found in the papers. Similarly, the project report he mentioned is sadly missing, which would have thrown some light on what he had really wanted to do. Joshi left his job and returned to India on 1 May 1976. Was he in touch with Tony after that? Recalled Tony, ‘After that he never wrote to me nor kept in touch in any manner. I used to hear that he got active with the movement of the farmers in India but did not know much about it. One day, suddenly out of blue, in 1978, I received his message. He wanted to visit a factory in Spritenbach, near Zurich, making potato chips. He came to Bern, stayed with me, and next day we together drove to that factory. I had made all the appointments. We spent four or five hours there, learning their processes right from selection of the particular kind of potatoes to eventual Years in Switzerland
Q
67
