By Bob Van Leer

  (BANGALORE, INDIA, May 13, 1995) - Much of today was spent in a meeting with the Citizens Forum - Bangalore. This is a group of high-level retirees who meet monthly for discussions.

  Our party is down to three, Ken Rhoades from Nebraska had to go home from New Delhi to make a previous commitment.

  The meeting started with breakfast, extended into the afternoon, and was completed with lunch. About 25 were in attendance. The food served was traditional Indian vegetarian dishes, most of them quite good.

   We were told 15-20% of Indians were vegetarian by conviction and another 15-20% by economic necessity, for a total of approximately 35%.

  Members of the forum were mostly former government officials who were, when still working, in very high positions. Two, including the chair, were chief justices of India. Another was commissioner of income tax. A third was formerly secretary of External Affairs and ambassador to China. Still another was the head of their equivalent of the CIA. (Incidentally, he looked like Rep. Peter DeFazio's cousin.)

  It was a high-level group, or more correctly, had been a high-level group. When you have been running the country and are put out to pasture, what do you do to fill your time? In this case, it was meeting with three small-town American journalists.

  It was a very perceptive group. After all, we were introduced as "distinguished publishers, writers and authors".

  After introductions, forum members were allowed to make a short statement and there were questions. An early statement was by a woman who was an astrologer and editor of an astrology magazine. She left early and I asked the others how seriously astrology was taken in India? Immediately, many of them began to chuckle and I had my answer. The ambassador said, "Every senior government official has six astrologers as advisors - and I hope their advice cancels each other out". It was also pointed out that Nancy Reagan used her astrologer to advise Pres. Reagan.

  One Muslim spoke and said, "Indian Muslims are 1000 times happier than Muslims in Pakistan".

  India also is having problems with "affirmative action". A sociologist said 73% of public jobs for the state of Karnataka, of which Bangalore is the capital, are reserved for the lower casts. He said initially this was necessary, but is now an obstacle.

  A journalist, educated in the U.S., said real mass communication in India is difficult because of illiteracy, TV sets are concentrated in large cities and so are movie houses. He said a large percentage of the people are never included in any mass communication.

  Several speakers took swipes at the U.S. for calling India an ally of the Soviet Union in Cold War days and said a country as large as India can't be anyone's satellite.

  But several said India and the U.S. have much in common such as both being former British colonies and both using English common law as the basis of their legal systems.

  The chief justice said the Indian constitution is modeled much on the lines of the U.S. Constitution. He said the Preamble is basically our Declaration of Independence and 11 of our amendments are included.

COWS HAVE OWNERS

  We were told this morning that all the cows we see wandering the streets are someone's property. "All are valued possessions of the owner." But the owners may have only a postage-stamp sized piece of real estate and turn out the cows to graze during the day, even if the grazing range is downtown in a city of millions. It is the same, except for the location, as the concept of "free range" in the American desert. But we were told it is changing, there used to be more cows.

  It seems very strange to see a four lane road in the rush hour, bumper-to-bumper with traffic, and a cow laying down on the concrete median strip placidly chewing her cud.

  In the afternoon we visited the Bangalore race track across from the hotel for the last couple of races. The summer season is on and there were eight races. The track is grass. I had never seen such a one before. After each race, a large crew worked over the track, putting back the divots kicked loose by the horse's shoes.

  The climate in Bangalore is extremely pleasant. It is a retirement community and it is easy to see why. After the day's activities, we dined at the outdoor garden of our hotel, the West End Hotel, and it was pleasant, but not hot, shirt sleeve weather at 9:00 p.m.

  Tomorrow is another early day with a flight to Bombay, India's largest city, and our final stop in India.