As an aspirant to the foreign service, I had regarded K P S Menon as a role model long before I met him. I eagerly read his books, Delhi-Chunking, Many Worlds and Russian Panorama, and enjoyed the many anecdotes in them. They gave me a flavour of diplomatic life, which whetted my own appetite to be a part of the charmed circle. I heard him speak of his experience as a member of the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) Board, which interviewed candidates for the civil services and picked up tit-bits that might help if I made it to Dholpur House for the personality test. One story he liked to narrate was how a lady candidate from Kerala, J Lalithambika, my senior in the university, literally sang her way to the Indian Administrative Service. Apparently, Lalitha, the bright and self-confident person that she is, answered every question put to her by the board and when it came to Menon's turn, he decided to ask her not about foreign affairs or even English Literature, in which she had a Masters degree, but about G Sankara Kurup, a Malayalam poet, who had just been honoured by the Jnanpith Award. She gave a brilliant assessment of Kurup's contribution to Malayalam literature, which prompted Menon to ask her whether she could recite one of Kurup's poems. She asked whether she could sing one of them. Lalitha then enthralled the UPSC Board by singing a poem that had been tuned for a movie. Not accustomed to such entertainment in the board room, the members agreed with Menon that she should get the highest marks ever given to a candidate for the personality test. Though she made it on account of her overall performance, the legend of the time had it that it was her singing talent that got her the high grade. Menon used to say that his only regret was that she did not choose the foreign service. I was advised to take singing lessons as part of my preparations for the competitive examination. Menon had retired to his village, Ottappalam, in Kerala by the time I joined the foreign service and I sought a meeting with him when I was in Kerala for my district training. He promptly invited us to lunch at his home, but on the appointed day, he had to go to Delhi and he arranged for his family, including the young bride of his grandson, to take care of us. There was some consternation when we spoke in chaste Malayalam as Menon had presumed, on the basis of my name, that I was a Tamil Brahmin and ordered a vegetarian meal for us. When Menon was the foreign secretary, probationers were never sent to their home states for district training and that was another reason why he thought that I would not be from Kerala. Every time I met him subsequently, he apologised for his grave mistake in serving a vegetarian meal to a full blooded Nair. The word, 'charming' is used rather glibly for describing diplomats. Some Indian diplomats, who are described so, are hardly charming, certainly not to their colleagues. But 'charming' is the only word that would describe Menon and his wife. Even those who did not know anything about his accomplishments as an administrator or diplomat would instantly succumb to his charm. We enjoyed every meeting with him, particularly during their annual pilgrimage to Moscow. The Soviets valued him most and arranged an annual retreat in Sochi or some such resort town and he would spend a few days in Moscow on his way in and out. It was a delight to spend time with him. The many anecdotes that filled the pages of his books came back to life in the conversations and the Moscow setting gave the narration an authentic setting. Every time I went to the 'Dom Druzhbi', the Friendship House, I remembered what the mother of the sugar tycoon, who built it, told her son when he took her around the building for the first time. 'My son,' she said, 'till today, I only knew that you are a fool, but now the whole world will know it.' We often wondered how many times his wife, Anujee, would have heard his stories. But each time he narrated a story, she burst into a girlish giggle, with an appropriate blush when the stories became risque. She encouraged him to tell one story or the other from time to time and even filled in the gaps. But she waited for the punch line and laughed loudly as though she heard it for the first time. Once I was toasting in English and Anujee asked Menon to tell the story of how he had invented a Hindi equivalent of "bottoms up!" After drinking 'dadna' several times, (Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev asked Menon what the Hindi equivalent of 'dadna' was. Menon did not want to say that there was no Hindi equivalent and that we were still using the imperialist expression for such a joyous action. We say, Ek Dum, said Menon and 'Ek Dum' it was for the Soviet oligarchy ever since whenever Indian dignitaries were present. Some uninitiated Indians protested that there was no such expression, but Menon's instant invention went into the Kremlin style book and could not be erased for long

A former member of the Parliament (1985 and 1991), Mr. Liaqat Baloch originally hails from Muzaffargah, a remote area in the Southern Punjab. Born in Multan on 9th December, 1952, Mr Baloch holds Masters degree in Mass Communication and a Bachelor degree in Law. Mr Liaqat Bloch was associated with Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) during his early school days. Held various offices of the IJT at district and province level. He was twice elected Nazim-e-A’la (President) of the IJT. During his studies at the Punjab University, Lahore he played an active role in student politics. Mr Baloch was elected president of students’ union, Punjab University besides completing a successful stint of Secretary General of Punjab University Students Union. In recognition of his services to promote the cause of students, he was elected Secretary General of Asian Students Association in 1978. He had also been member of World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and International Federation of Islamic Students Organizations (IIFSO). Despite first class first position and winning a Gold medal in Masters with excellent academic record, Mr Baloch neither opted journalism field nor the legal practice to start his practical life. He, instead chose the thorny field of politics with a commitment to serve the oppressed masses. His cool and friendly temperament earned him good repute in the religio-political circles of the country. In recognition of his country-wide reconciliatory efforts to forge unity between various Muslim sects, he was elected Chairman of Punjab Chapter of the Milli Yekjehti Council (MYC). 1996-97 He worked as Secretary Political Bureau of Jama’at-e-Islami Pakistan (1994-1997). He is also a member of the JI Committee on Information. Liaqat Baloch was twice elected member of National Assembly from Lahore. Also headed Jama’at-e-Islami Parliamentary Party in the Lower House (National Assembly). He set worth-following trends in the parliamentary history during his two-terms as the JI parliamentarian. During his stay in the Parliament, Mr Baloch headed Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Science and Technology. He was also member of the Public Accounts and Business Committees of the same house. He was instrumental in establishing Human Right Network of Pakistan (HRN), which is playing a role of catalyst in order to bring a positive change in society. The forum had helped scores of people in getting redressed to their abridged human rights on many occasions. During his two terms as member of National Assembly, Mr Liaqat Baloch visited Iran, China, Turkey, Russia and Central Asian States as a member of various high level delegations. On behalf of his party (JI), at the invitation of various government and non-government organizations, he visited Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Qatar, UAE, London, USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Bosnia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh to attend international conferences (January 1, 2000).