When the temperature rises above 25 degrees Celsius in New York in mid-September, people respond as if they have been given an unexpected gift – one last chance before the cold autumn rains and the snowy depths of winter to take to the parks and bars and basketball courts. The city comes, almost desperately, alive.

One consequence of a late hot spell – what Americans call an ‘Indian summer’ – is that this normally noisy city becomes even noisier, and the noise continues late into the balmy night, as Manhattanites try to squeeze in one last animated conversation or one last drunken chorus before they go into hibernation.

Unlike my neighbours, I – having just returned from a fascinating but intense series of meetings around the world at which I sought support for my candidacy for the UN secretary-general – was looking forward to some quiet, some sleep and the chance to awake refreshed the next morning. But the traffic and crowds and the bustle kept me awake, my mind spinning with over-eager thoughts. Those thoughts turned not to the high politics of my meetings with presidents and the press, but rather to the cause that has led me to seek the secretary-generalship – the search for peace.

And from there, my mind wandered to one special day that was fast approaching – the International Day of Peace. The chain of thought began with the demands the organisation that I have served for nearly three decades regularly makes on its global constituents. The UN asks a great deal, of both people and of governments.

The UN Charter is, in effect, a compendium of hopes for a better world, one where everybody lives with more freedom and more security – both economic and physical. And because the UN tackles the most difficult and intractable problems, it is constantly engaged in a battle to bring out the best in human nature – encouraging bitter enemies to put aside their animosities, forge alliances and live in harmony, challenging those with a great deal to help those with far too little, and pressing busy people focused on the bottom line and the fluctuations of the stock market to invest in something as seemingly ephemeral as the long-term health of our planet. Being challenged is not a bad thing. Indeed, it is often challenges that allow us to grow, both individually and collectively. But the challenges we are posing people all around the world today, on September 21, the 25th International Day of Peace, are not so great. The first of these challenges is one that dates back to the UN General Assembly’s declaration of the international day in 1981.That resolution called on all those actually involved in conflict to enter into a one-day truce, to put aside their weapons for one day and taste the fruits of one day of peace.

Of course, we know that not all those in the trenches or on the frontline will listen to this plea. But experience has shown us that some will. Perhaps they will learn something from the experience, or perhaps all that will happen is that the guns will fall silent for one day.

<B>From India</B>

<B>Shashi Tharoor

©The Times of india</B>