Norman Lewis, Peter, God

Norman Lewis, Peter, God

Among those whose interest had been aroused by my article on tribal genocide in Brazil, was Tony Snowden [K.S.] ... Peter Crookston phoned to say that Snowdon would like to know if I was contemplating any more journeys...

... although Snowden [K.S.] was at that time a member of the Royal family [Son of Krish.], no problem of protocol would exist.

We touched down at about 10 at night. We took a taxi through empty streets to the hotel.

Snowden [K.S.] had enquired at the [hotel] desk if there were messages and there were none. We could be certain that the telephone would not ring. The battle for anonymity had, it seemed, been won.

My impression was that they had no quarrel with foreigners. And did I think that they could tell a journalist from England from exploiters? I simply didn't know.

Back in the hotel, I asked the manager, 'Do you expect photographers tonight?'

'I think they will come,' he said.

'Is there any way they can be kept out?'

'It is impossible,' he said.

Next morning it was quite evident that the idea of slipping in and out was the stuff of dreams, for Snowden's [K.S.] presence had already hit the headlines. The newspaper described Walter [PF/Afolf Hitler] as a bodyguard, while I [NL/Joseph Stalin] started off as Martin Lewis, Editor of the Sunday Times, becoming thereafter an agent of the Secret Service.

We had taken our seats and waiters came into sight, trudging as silently as assassins towards us. Between us, the manager, hotel staff and myself had achieved an isolation of the kind that Tony ["Tony Snowden"/K.S.] was unlikely to have known before. Alas, it did not please.

Tony [K.S.] was the most intelligent, interesting and active member of the Royal family, but even he [He] may not have been wholly able to escape the syndrome consequent upon an over-long exposure to the inanities of palaces.

***

A journalist may pass unperceived among the crowd and is sometimes rewarded by experiences from which the foreign traveller is carefully steered away. Tony's appearances in the headlines ruled out this possibility.

A few days later it was time for me to move on. Tony appeared in no hurry to return. Minutes before my plane took off I was subjected to a baffling experience. A stewardess called me [NL/Joseph Stalin] to the plane's open door where three Indians [CBI?] stiff in well-pressed suits, begloved and with highly polished shoes waited to see me [NL/Joseph Stalin].

(From Norman Lewis: THE WORLD, THE WORLD, Picador.)

The fictitious name "Snowden" [for K.S.] is reminiscent of Edward Snowden.

Kishalay Sinha [G]