Dr. Uliana Gabara, Associate Provost for International Education,
listens to one of the several speakers we had during
our visit to India
We are a free and sovereign people today and we have 
rid ourselves of the burden of the past. We look at the
world with clear and friendly eyes and at the future
with faith and confidence.
The burden of foreign domination is done away with,
but freedom brings its own responsibilities and burdens,
and they can be shouldered in the spirit of a free people,
self-disciplined, and determined to preserve and enlarge
that freedom.
--Jawaharlal Nehru, August 15, 1947
It is beautiful country, my country. Never has nature manifested
herself with such abandoned pride, never has the earth borne the traces
of passionate love with such splendor. Caressed, repudiated, and loved in
turn, my country stands: lushly verdant, heart-breakingly arid, and awesomely
majestic. Many-hued is my country, and many-hued are my people. Creamy white,
honey skinned, ebony black, and golden brown are my people, and the earth
is alive with echoes of their many moods. It echoes their gaiety, their
sorrow, their anger, theirrestraint. Lush green vines with sombre brown,
awesome white towers above the rush of blue waters. It is a beautiful country,
my country.
--Saloni, Narang, 1984
While in India we had the opportunity to visit rural
villages and observe everyday life. Several of the young
boys had shaved their heads. Eager to learn, we began to
speculate on the religious significance of this behaviour.
We soon discovered that the explanation was less intellectual
than we had imagined-- the children had head lice!