Reprints from Soviet News and Views. from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa.

Soviet teacher

adopts Afghan child

Shakufa was the only survivor of a rebel raid on a Pashto village near Kandaghar in Afghanistan. She was five years old then. Her parents and all the villagers were gunned down by the _ rebels,

and the houses set on

fire. The Soviet sol- diers who forced the rebels back, took Shak- ufa to Kabul’s orphan- age. An eyewitness of the murders, the girl was in deep shock.

It was in that or- phanage that a Soviet teacher of Russian in a Kabul industrial train- ing centre, Zoya Shen-

Shakufa, second from right, at dinner with the family.

From the other side

drik, saw the arrival. The girl’s story was exactly like her own: Zoya Shen- drik had by a = mira- cle escaped death dur- ing World War II. The Soviet woman decided to adopt the Afghan child. On. comple- tion of the formalities, she obtained a memo- randum from the For- eign Ministry of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, and took Shakufa from the or- phanage in the winter of 1985. Soon they left

for Tashkent, where the Shendriks now reside. Zoya Shendrik has three sons; the two. elder have families of their own, while the youngest, Pavel, is a senior student. The Shendriks warmly wel-

comed Shakufa in their .

home. Full of vim and vigour, she is now a member of.a second grades

Abroad thoughts from home

by Kaberi Dasgupta

In our March 12 is- sue, the col- umn Abroad Thoughts from home some- how got mangled dur- ing our typesetting pro- cess. The result was an entire page was miss- ing. So here we present the COMPLETE aarti- cle, with deep apologies to Kaberi.

Where was I last March? (Not buried under textbooks, | at any rate.) Ah, yes - my family and I were tour- ing South India.

Touring: The word

‘concocts . an image of the cool, un- ruffied traveller, seated -comfortably in an_air- conditioned bus, - be- ing gently guided from trap. to trap. But where is the novelty in that? Adventur- ers that we. were, we decided to chart our ewn course toward the southern tip of India. Thus on 9 March 1985, we drove into the Brin- davan Gardens.

These gardens, es-

tablished as a resort for a ruler of the former kingdom of Mysore, ri- val anything that the *Love

Boat” ever offered in terms of romantic set- tings.. Colour greets the eye at every glance: tiers of bouganvil- las, marigolds, lilies ... all in the spectacular shades found only im the tropics, surrounded by lush grass. The stone paths that weave around the flower beds are bordered by foun- tains. The atmosphere can only be spoiled by the knowledge that the price of this extrava- gance was exploitation. (Of course, there is nothing unusual about that.) However, we re- member the Brindavan Gardens for other rea- sons....

There were two ho- tels within the grounds of the gardens. One was a palacial structure that towered above all. The other, hidden be- hind the bushes, was a nondescript | tourist lodge. My sisters

—— oa nena

ne oo a

and I indicated which of the two we ferred, but we were overruled. (Money is a great source of power.) We were soon unpack- ing at the lodge.

My mother and 1 were deserted in the

room as the rest of the.

family was too impa-

tient to wait for us.

While I replaced the hotel’s sheets with our own, mom began. to explore the cupboards and closets. I had de-

cided long ago that all doors in the vicinity

of the equator should remain closed, © given

the abundant Sora and

‘fauna of the region.

My hypothesis was con-

firmed when I heard a cry from the bathroom.

Look at what’s in|

this closet!”

”"Why?” I oe

being a prudent person.

-*’Come here!” in- ‘sisted my mother. The closet contained several. hundred individuals, all of the cockroach family.

"What should we do?” asked mom.

_girl’s :

pre-.

the situation night. After i promised

The ever popular TU-154.

Union to 55 countries.

customers.

exported to 17 countries.

9,200 AIRCRAFT EXPORTED

The export of Soviet aircraft and land-based technology has grown by forty per cent over the past five years. To date, a total of 5,200 civilian aircraft have been sold by the Soviet

The world market shows a steady demand for Antonov (AN) planes. A total of 1,300 AN planes have been sold to 42 European, African, Asian and Latin American countries. The AN planes are efficient and safe and can operate on unpaved runways, a feature particularly valued by foreign

According to Vasily Studenikin, General Director of the © USSR Aviaexport Foreign Trade Association, there is also a high demand for all: IL Models, TU-134s and TU-154s. The Soviet Yak-40, a medium range passenger plane, has been

Aviaexport also trains ground and flight crews.

8 for domestic routes.

*“Leave,” was my immediate response.

We. finally. decided (after having |

_ bolted the closet door) that we would rally our

courage, and tolerate .

not to horrify my sis- ters by telling them of our discovery, we went to see the dancing foun- tains.

The dancing fou

tains are the night- time attraction of Brin- davan Gardens. Ay:

bridge, across the river ‘that divides the

gar- dens, leads to the north side. Music drifts in

the air, and the foun- | ‘tains, whose waters are

coloured by light, rise and _ fall, in rows and layers, in synchrony with the melodies. — After the show, we had dinner at the larger ho- tel (small recompense), and. then returned to our room. A mattress had been laid out on the floor for my par-

ents as there was only

one. bed. Tired by the

for one —

ing,” chuckled dad.

day’ s travelling, we all decided to go to sleep.

I awoke in the mid- dle of the night. hear- ing my parents convers- ing in excited whispers.

*Don’t worry: I killed it .“° said dad.

"What - about the others?” demanded mom. coe

eI think squashed them.” _. Mom ‘immediately jumped up, madly rubbing and scratching herself, and turned on the lights. :

"Oh,

you

those things

that you crushed were - just

the flow- ers that you were wear-

Apparently — our neighbors, finding their quarters in the closet uncomfortable, had de- cided to join mom and dad, much to the lat- ter’s consternation.

"I’m not going to sleep with those things all over the place,” de-

_clared my mother.

Continued on Page 15

SSE es Me rncy: March March Tem 19873