Book Description
" ... I have also tried to highlight the constructive roles played by Russia during and after the Second World War in East Europe. In the socialist block of countries there were efforts to address the peoples' basic needs like food, shelter, education and health. But they seriously lagged in catering to other consumer goods and luxury items for which the people had great craving. The closed door functioning of the communist parties in East Europe as per the dictates of Soviet Russia had alienated the parties from the people. During spring and summer I travelled to the extreme Western Europe (London and Paris) and the central/east Europe comprising Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Hungary. I had rich experience of travelling by train, car as well as by hitchhiking. During my entire stay, I met many colourful, jovial and compassionate personalities in different fields and had entered into very lively discussions about man-woman relationships including love, sex, marriage and divorce, women's position in the east and west, definition of character and virtuousness, religion and other socio-political developments. The cultural and social differences between Europe and India also featured. An attempt has also been made to look into the causes of the recent disintegration of Yugoslavia in the early nineties of the last century."--
