Speaking at the programme

President Gorbachev had assured me that Pavel Palazhchenko would inform me when it was my turn to speak. I saw that Pavel was going this side and that side. Finally Irina Malikova caught his attention.

Pavel made an announcement that there was a very unusual person who would speak. Pavel said a few nice things about me by way of introduction, and I went to the stage. Then the President left his seat and came to the stage to join me. The President stood on the stage only for four or five individuals during the course of the evening. I was very fortunate to be one of those.

From my book about the President, I had learned by heart twelve very significant poems. For each poem, I held the microphone and recited the lines in English. Then Pavel took the microphone from me and translated them into Russian. This was how we shared one microphone.

When my speech was over, President Gorbachev bowed to me three times, and I bowed to him five times. Then he so affectionately accompanied me back to my chair. I was number fifteen on the programme, and after me there were many, many more. I believe there were about forty items altogether.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy in Russia, Agni Press, 2001
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/scr