FOREWORD

Foreword ~ 8 ~ such incidents in my life. I would like to recount one of them to illustrate my point. Once, in the days of my youth, my elder brother set off along with his friends to go hunting. He insisted that I should go along too, so I had no option but to join him. We left in two cars, and after about two hours’ drive, we passed through the outskirts of the city and came to fields and orchards. Now my brother and his friends started hunting birds perched high up in the trees. Then they handed a gun to me and asked me to fire at a bird (kahlak) sitting at the top of a tree. I did as they asked, took the gun, placed it against my shoulder and aimed at the bird. But when the bird came exactly within range, I had such a feeling of unease that I could not bring myself to pull the trigger. I handed the gun back to my brother. My heart was so heavy that I immediately took leave of my brothers and cousins, walked some distance on foot and then took a bus back home to Allahabad. I am a pacifist, but my pacifism is not of a strategic nature. It is not a formula for justifying support in one case or opposition in another. My pacifism