Wednesday, April 19, 1961.
Though spring officially commenced on March 1, an extended winter still gripped Ottawa. The previous night was cold, at -1.7° Celsius; weathermen predicted 10.2° as the high for April 19.
At 200, MacLaren Street, India’s High Commissioner to Canada, BN Chakravarty, was busy in his three-storey Chancery office. In the second floor, the First Secretary K Sankara Pillai sat at his oak desk, reading some documents after finishing a spartan lunch. Two days ago, President Kennedy had sent American troops into Cuba as part of their efforts to oust Fidel Castro; it was turning out to be a disaster.
Back in India, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a worried man, concerned about the superpower rivalry in Laos. Nehru immediately asked for detailed reports from India’s North American Missions on the Bay of Pigs fiasco and its global repercussions. The High Commissioner, Chakravarty, wanted Sankara Pillai to prepare a note for the Prime Minister; he was to have a discussion with the Head of Mission shortly.
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