A4@ - Friday, December 7, 1984 - North Shore News HE SPECTACLE Strictly personal by Bob Hunter OF HAPPY SIKHS pop- ping champagne corks in the streets of Van- couver at the news of the assassination of Indira Gandhi probably left you as disgusted as it did me. Yet, | ask myself, if | had been a Sikh, wouldn't I have been dancing in the streets too”? The consensus of objective reports out of India (at least those that pet through the censors) seems to be that Mrs) Gandhi played politics by pitting Sikh extremists against moderates seeking no more than a degree ot autonomy for the Punjab, and when matters got out of hand, she used the arms ina frontal assault on the Golden Temple at Amritsar when a siege Would have worked just as well Am fo some kind of an ex pert? Of course But | have been, diietly, in India And | have been friends over the vears with Hindus and Sikhs alike ve gotten some of them jobs. learned in their homes to eat curry with chapati bread in stead of forks. and attended. by invitation. some of their rehyrous ceremonies Not howevel Smallh credentials, ca be sure) Butan the wake of the disaster which has betatlen the Stkhs and which betell Mrs) Gandhi in an act «oft vengeance which was ctill ingly inevitable bo have had good reason to teel despa The erxaniple of Endia ais something we should all con template with more than plib SUP eC LLOFTES Lo okie. Hdituta aospuretinal Cease hier wher dived tor a foncpae bratinin atime ore the Full Fa UNL @ Peotel tar iy ALSOOINGC ELUDES North Shore. He was the most Obstreperous, arrogant individual | hadever met Yet f had to admit. he was brillant | saw him in debate often enough, invariably a theological debate And he was simply unbeatable Hie viewed people mvselt North of buropean stock as “preen shoots growing up out of the forest.” So far as he was concerned, we were barely more than savages He himself was a product of an urban society that went back into the mists of ume In a book titled /ndia A Bounded Curvilization, by VS) Natpaul, which | would like Americans recommend to anyone who feels qualified to make sweeping judgements about either Sikhs or Hindus, there Is da Passage which describes Vijayanagar, a thousand- vear-old kingdom in the south of the Country “Allit has been lett with ts a peasantry Chal cannot com pichend the wea of change he the squatters an the ruins outside the diving Wo javanagar temple, slipping in and out of the decaved stone facades Tike brightly Colored rases ts, sereechingls and unm portantly active “To bepan to wonder about the anteble tual depletion that must have come to lndia with the onmvasions and ot thie Wott LOM QUESTS last thousand Vd Yorpopened an NG Pre-Christmas Special SKi FREE Whistler or Blackcomb Mountain when you stay at WHISTLER VILLAGE INN fri at NCTC Cra tra ye kite brea tase df. Studio 72.00 Weluxe 9YO.00 - 7 Stay ao etebenbevtaaers orl 2 eights * bos « plac e * Satellite TV ty Aeocrbole: coed cep red eve vii Supenor 77.00 txtra person 25 00 Indian lessons jyavanapar happened, in vary- ing degrees, in other parts ot the country. In the north, rum ttes on ruin: Moslem rum on Hindu ruin, Mostem on Moslem. “In the history books, the accounts of wars and con quests and plunder, the in tellectual depleuion passes un noticed, the lesser intellectual lite of a country whose con tributions to civihzation were made in the remote past l wondered whether intellec- tually for a thousand years India hasa’t always retreated before is conquerors and whether, in its periods of ap- parent revival, India hadn’t only been making itself ar- chaic again. It dl suits a people as un- born, af thats the word, as Ourselves (we are still trying to decide whether (Q be bil- ingual or not, for God's sake), to look down upon the supsvivors of a turmotl as an- ctent as India’s) That's all | wanted to say Because there’s been a lot of shallow junk uttered about the cur- rent Indian crisis India will poo on Over there, as Naipaul puis ou, “the distress we see rs to be relished as religious theatre ° Maybe they Know something we don't SHEEPSKIN finest . 3 covers from § Sunday through TPhaurnsday and cccetve tree ltt parses ©. be used Monday @ ¢ cvevegrlinrve tetaty Sprasstyby ole. the pease Brave of a ruecal atthe Ke K webs friday! CY Saks VM ape ONY or i or “4 POOR Me SERV ATE aS 6 1127 8OO 664 GATE coe AL viz Why Paous 4004 _eoimaeenrenme se-tiaeaninenentesariereeRTIEIieiR aR AeREKRaheemUREermsn hn nara: HeRbnesenenetinaY rerneannaN en otra # mea eonRna qegrrrrgnar mer wesPtebereinre-en "A sap trwreeeryneorereeo“aursereamrne ce: ae cancietalinamacnstcumetsiersnanunsusaasamnsiusnetngeinvsieesidhspartngseninuiahedwtonenNaneiieenoepitiacinsesyyeliwteeiriynemtnselstidatuchveiptotiasadion inci iitiMsins i ihaisnianoatenentenneh Ai erchinininat bhalleC een Alani C HIKIS TMA mt AL» bboot tl tlie, bast vse 69 y ° * ~ Mae ‘Ge. QSes MILLEN AVNET “eit ae Ba: eae) il 41 eal aT}! ey et ‘or CIN * ea yqurselsrNl 4 S45 . unit wr ftOR THE second con- secutive year 88 New Year's babies will get a safer ride home from the hospital thanks to a gift from the British Columbia Medical Association and the doctors ot the province. The BCMA will present an infant safety seat to the first 985 baby born in all B.C.~ hospitals where babies are delivered. “Highways Minister Alex Fraser has promised Safety for New Years a seat belt law for children under six by the end of 1984,°° said Dr. David Jones, BCMA com- municauions committee chairman. **‘We hope our New Year's gitts will en- courage all parents 10 comply with the new legislation.’’ In addition to the doc- tors’ gifts, the BCMA Auxiliary, an organization of physicians’ spouses, 19 donating five infant seats each to safety seat loaner programs. Betalhii-ii $ SL-HF500 BETA H4 FD Uitte ag Faherty Stereo Sound Sempre Up down tance Serare F 4 able Ready ~ C Nhannel Seah TA Channels: Ure ommande: Wireless RMT 1027 Remote Control 1820 LONSDALE * NORTH VAN. Tiere me Taetyae aay Sey O. SE Oe ee 0 Ce Od Se “yeten dt yea dle eo Heady Cc uitry SERVICE 985-9831 987-8811 COME AND SEE OUR NEW LOCATION BRADSHAW CARPETS We have a wide selection of CARPETING, HARDWOOD FLOORSSM tae RESILIENT FLOORS CERAMIC TILE VINYL TILE CUSTOM BORDERING, F stim ates INGING & BINDING AVAILABLE all at competitive prices * OVER 20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE * EXPERT WORKMANSHIP. ON INSTALLATIONS * MEMBER OF THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU. * BEFORE YOU BUY GIVE US A TRY! | 507-15th Street, West Van 926-0413