“Anytime, Doctor,” I said with a grimace.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eAQzckKnt
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He swallowed hard and looked at me with a blank stare. I thought for a second I was actually going to have to start beating him to get the answers when he cleared his throat and spoke to me in a sheepish hushed voice hard to hear.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDjBKn92iG
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“Have you ever heard of Doctor Ashok Patel’s monoculture wheat grain?”558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfK6LY8kz8
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“Yes,” I answered wondering what that had to do with anything.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxKs8bsGx3
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“Doctor Singrey in Food Resources asked me to fly over to Doctor Patel’s experimental station in Punjab to see if the new grain would alter my computer estimates of the harvest yields in India. That new wheat could grow in the rocky ground and at altitudes where wheat normally doesn’t grow. I went over there and looked it over. It was amazing, but at best it could feed maybe twenty million more mouths. Not a drop in the bucket when you have to satisfy the needs for the one point seventeen million people in the country. Even under the best conditions, once the climate shift finished destroying the monsoons and we cut them off from food shipments, they could feed maybe half of that.”558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDQBQcgHhl
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I nodded and wished he get on with it. “I saw that in your file, but please continue.” 558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRsYsOKLy2
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“Well Dr. Patel’s station was up in the Himalayan foothills and as you can imagine, there aren’t any Class-A accommodations around there so I stayed at the station. After work, I'd go into the nearby village and I got to meet several of the local people. They were kind to me, shared their food with me, and in all treated me like a royal guest. I think Dr. Patel told them if I liked the place, it would be easier to get more funding which gave work to many of the people in the village. Over a period of my two-week stay, I got to know many of the villagers personally. They were decent people, hard workers just trying to make a better life for themselves and their children. In short, they were just like us, minus the education and privileges.”558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlHcAS2iy4
558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTaXN8hJRW
He stopped for a second as if to gather his strength. “On my last night there, they threw a party for me and while I was enjoying myself, Dr. Patel’s granddaughter, who is about three, came up and sat on my lap. She was adorable and I played with her. Children can’t lie well about affection at that age, she genuinely liked me. I looked down into her deep black eyes and then it hit me.”558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOBC0ztev3
558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmS91oEwKo3
His voice trailed off, his face drooped and he looked like he was going to cry. “What hit you, Doctor?” I asked.
Penana
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