"SHADES OF MAY IN HADES" B A R R I N G the f i rs t , M a y is a
m o n t h devo id o f d rama.
S p r i n g has merged in to summer
w i t h i ts ho t w inds in the day and
s u l t r y n ights. Po l i t i ca l act iv i t ies
lose the i r edge and b i te , and bus i -
ness condi t ions are du l l ed . On l y
a c i g r u l t u r e surv ives M a y . There
is m o r e in the c l i m a t i c theory
than people in the i r p r i de are apt
to t h i n k . Those w h o have l i ved
in the land of the loo are sur-
p r i sed how in ancient days i t was
the n u r s e r y of great in te l lects,
bu t they console themselves w i t h
the i n f o r m a t i o n that the c l imate
was d i f fe ren t then . Be tha t as i t
may , the sages ac tua l l y moved up
to B a d r i h a t h and Kf t i l ash . M u g h a l
Empero rs to K a s h m i r , B r i t i sh
governments to the h i l l s , and
Tagore to Europe. So i f today
Ind ia ' s P rem ie r leaves Ind ia for
the C o m m o n w e a l t h P r i m e M in i s -
ters ' Conference in L o n d o n and
proposes to spend a week in
S w i t z e r l a n d on the way back, i t
w i l l be c l ima t i ca l l y f i t . S im i l a r
v i ews we ho ld about the Sardar 's
m i l d exhor ta t i on to Ind ia 's top
businessmen to p lay the game,
and the i r lazy w i l l ingness to do
so. I f one notices some pan t ing ,
a l i t t l e sweat ing and a few wet
t owe ls , let t hem be ascr ibed to
the r i gou rs of a game in sum-
mer. W h o can b lame the p layers
i f t hey choose to a rgue tha t such
a game can on l y be pu rsued i f
M a y D a y can be sh i f ted a m o n t h
ea r l i e r? L i f e mus t be qu ie t and
sleepy in M a y , or we commi t a
c r i m e against n a t u r e whose f i rs t
l aw is tha t of laissez faire.
Pand i t N e h r u 's v is i t has caused
w i l d specu la t ion, fo r w h i c h , h o w
ever , there is l i t t l e scope in v i e w
of t h e Congress reso lu t ion on
fo re ign po l icy and the te rms o f
monwea l th w i t h the w o r l d , t ha t
A n g l o - A m e r i c a versus U.S.S.R.
is no t the on l y po l i t i ca l p ropos i -
t ion , and las t ly that po l i t i ca l
act ion is not exhausted by t a k i n g
sides w i t h e i ther o f them. A t
the same t ime , it is not a neuter 's
neu t ra l i t y . I t is a pos i t ive a t t i -
tude , ha rd to conceive no d o u b t
in te rms of A r i s t o t e l i an sy l log isms,
but u t t e r l y real ist ic. The on ly
th ing needed to overcome th is
d i f f i cu l ty is to be conf ident of
one's self and real ise tha t ex is t -
ence cannot be pu t in to the
s t ra i t - jacket of either or and
versus re la t ionships. Ex i s t en t i a l -
ist conf idence is i nco r r i g i b l y d ia -
lectic. An Eng l i sh summer shou ld
help Pand i t N e h r u in fee l ing
young and m a k i n g the o ld real ise
that Y o u n g Ind ia has, and mus t
have, a l i fe of her own . L i n k a g e
w i t h the C r o w n is the least i m -
por tan t part of i t .
B r i t a i n has p roduced P l u t o -
n i u m , w h i c h is an a l te rna t i ve to
U-235 so long used to create
atomic power . At f i rs t o n l y a
theoret ica l poss ib i l i ty , i t has n o w
emerged as a by -p roduc t in the
atomic p i le out of the su rp lus
neut rons rema in ing af ter sp l i t t i ng
U-235. The new isotope, be ing
unstable, becomes N e p t u n i u m by
beta-emission, w h i c h , i n its t u r n ,
is t rans fo rmed in to P l u t o n i u m .
U n d e r s im i la r t ype o f b o m b a r d -
ment , P l u t o n i u m releases t r e -
mendous energy . A t present
this isotope is m i x e d up in the
g raph i te slag of the p i le in a
dangerous ly rad io -ac t ive fash ion
and cannot be isolated or hand led .
B u t the po in t is that B r i t a i n has
made a chemica l p rob lem of i t i n -
stead of the phys ica l one of the
o ld A t o m B o m b . As such i t has
become economical in two ways ;
9
the Ind ian cons t i t u t i on , bo th o f
w h i c h he has done his best to ex-
p la in . He is also not the man to
be ove rawed by the advice of a
Smuts or a Fraser. The fo rmer
gen t leman, w h o is the au thor of
H o l i s m , does not see any d iscre-
pancy be tween his b io log ica l
t heory of the who le and po l i t i ca l
act ion in par ts . He has chosen
to p u t his a rguments in the shape
of e i ther or; that is, e i ther I nd ia
remains in or goes ou t of the
C o m m o n w e a l t h . I nd ia does not
subscr ibe to this logical pos i t ion.
H e r neu t ra l i t y i f that phrase can
at a l l be used is cons t ruc t ive .
W h i c h rea l l y means that Ind ia
does not equate the B r i t i s h Com-
23rd Apirl 1949
Off the Record
ECONOMIC WEEKLY