Beijing Diary

But look carefully, and you8217;ll find that Beijing remains much closer to the Soviet era than modern-day Russia. Such as the breakfast menu in your luxurious Beijing hotel, with porridge and boiled eggs and non-veg salad; in Moscow, on the other hand, you can now choose from waffles, sauerkraut and three kinds of freshly-flavoured cream.

Ghettos for the diplomatic community remain inviolate in the Chinese capital, with foreigners too assigned domestic help from the Bureau of Diplomatic Personnel;not so in Moscow, where money can buy most things, including love.

But the thing that really stares at you in the face is the expression on the faces of the people: while most 8220;common8221; Muscovites, save for the nouveau riche, live a mostly hand-to-mouth existence, in Beijing people seem mostly contented and proud of what they8217;ve achieved. 8220;Socialism with Chinese characteristics8221; has meant that the free market is controlled, not the Russian rollercoaster that people there are forced to ride. Simply put, its the difference between the paths Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping took for their nations8230; is there a lesson here for democratic India?

Doodlers, beware

What would China be without the Great Wall, the only object on earth that can be seen from space? This world wonder draws the Chinese 8212; not only the foreigners 8212; by the hordes, even on a foggy day. And just as you step into its ancient precincts, a board stops you in your tracks. It says, simply, 8220;Matters to be Noted.8221; And beneath isthe inscription, 8220;Do not write or carve on the Great Wall. Do not spit or litter. Do not smoke8230;8221; For visitors from the other 8220;ancient8221; Asian civilisation, India, the request is not a little unusual, considering we would be missing something if we didn8217;t know whether Arun loves Sangeeta8217; or not on our multiple monuments.

Of walls and cows

So much has been written on the Great Wall, but listen to what one anonymous visitor from an unknown century said in a piece called Impressions of a Visitor from Zhanj8217;an8217;: 8220;Looking down from the Juyong Pass from Badaling the place closest to Beijing where the Wall intersects, it looks like pouring water off a steep roof or taking a furtive glance at a cow8230;8221;

The short-cut

Here8217;s a priceless one: When former President R Venkatraman and his wife visited the place about a decade ago, they wanted to visit the Great Wall, but couldn8217;t undertake the relatively steep trek. So, this is what an intrepid officer of the Indian Foreign Service hitupon: he told the Chinese that since the President HAD to come to the Wall, maybe they could, as a very special case, allow two Indian embassy cars to drive up on a side road which met the Wall relatively high up.

Unfortunately, the road ended in public toilets reeking of impolite odours. The Chinese, however, rose bravely to the occasion and cleaned up the loos with huge doses of disinfectant. The story has a happy ending: Venkatraman drove up, went through the toilets and found himself on the Wall. In the bargain, he set an example for other high-level visiting dignitaries to follow!