Labour gave Babu security

Press, 5 October 1984, Page 14

Labour gave Babu security

NZPA staff correspondent New Delhi Augustin (Babu) Gomez — New Zealand’s “man in India” for the last 14 months — could not eat or sleep the day he heard of the Labour Party’s election victory in July. Babu, caretaker of the 1.8 hectares in New Delhi which New Zealand bought to build a new High Commission before closing the post in 1982, said he had been praying for a Labour victory. “Now I will be able to take some annual leave and visit my family,” said Babu. It has been more than a year since the caretaker has seen his wife and two sons

in southern India. He supports them on his salary of 750 rupees (about $130) a month. It was too hot and too expensive in New Delhi for hjs family to live with him, he said. A devout Christian, Babu was interviewed as he sat under a small Catholic shrine on the wall of the 2m by 3m concrete hut which has been his home since August last year. He said he had been assured by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, when he was in New Delhi in February as Leader of the Opposition, that Labour would reopen the High Commission if it

won the election.

“When I read about the election result in the newspaper I could not eat my food, I couldn’t sleep ... I was very happy,” said Babu. Outside the hut, pigs owned by the neighbouring Philippnes embassy grazed amid the evergreen ashoka trees shading the tranquil, grassed area which is policed virtually 24 hours a

day by Babu. He had been employed by the New Zealand High Commission for 4% years before the National Government decided to close the post in February, 1982, as a costcutting measure. Babu rejoined his wife, Gracy, and two sons, Arun, aged seven, and Anthony, aged four, in Trivandrum, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala — 48 hours journey by train from New Delhi — and spent the next 18 months unemployed. His eight brothers, who each earned 800 to 900 rupees (about $133 to $150) a month helped support the family, he said. A telegram summoning him back to New Delhi to take over as caretaker was received in August last year. Since then Babu, whose salary was channelled by the New Zealand Government through the Australian High Commission, has been able to again support his family which lives in rooms

in Trivandrum costing 250

rupees (about $42) a month. “I only leave this place for 15 minutes at a time to buy my vegetables at the market,” said Babu. Babu said he had to be on the alert for local people trying to strip the trees of branches for firewood. If noone was about, squatters would move in to set up on the land, he said.

“I get up at 4 a.m. every day to read my Bible,” he said. “I also read my Bible at 6 p.m. every night.” Apart from his brief visits to buy food, Babu said he remained on the New Zealand land. “I never go anywhere,” he said. “Duty is duty.” Next to his hut, a big black crow sat on a notice board proclaiming the land to be a diplomatic building site for the New Zealand Government. Babu said he thought his prospects were very good with the New Zealand Government and that he had been assured by Mr Lange of a job with the New Zealand High Commission when it reopened, which would reportedly be at the end of this year. His standard of living jumped last month when, after a visit by a senior New Zealand diplomat, arrangements were made to connect his hut with electricity, laid on from the adjoining Thailand embassy.

An electric fan and light were provided through the Government and Babu bought a small 35 rupee (about $5.50) unit to replace his kerosene cooker.

The other possessions in the small, but clean hut with a hard clay floor, were a bed, a rack of clothes, five shelves made from packing cases, a small rattan stool, and a bicycle costing 1000 rupees (about $180) bought “on the instalment system.” Earlier in the year, the Government had arranged . through the Australian High Commission to add a second window to the concrete hut, said Babu.

Temperatures in New Delhi reach the low 40s in the hot season.

“It was terribly hot last summer,” said Babu. “I was having to sleep outside.” But he found himself plagued by mosquitoes and said he took an anti-malaria tablet each week.

“The New Zealand High Commission is a very nice firm.

I am very happy that it is reopening,” said Babu. He said that when he worked for the High Commission previously he visited his family once a year on his 35 days annual leave.

Now he would wait for the reopening before taking his annual holiday. “I very much look forward to seeing my wife and sons,” he said.