Letter from Malcolm Parker to Caleb Foote

Due to an unexpected shortage of workers in Assam, he has ended up there rather than Pakistan. Ended his time in Pakistan suffering from jaundice. Feels disappointed in Service Civil International as an organization to work with; the work is good but the SCI members are uninspiring; questions the approach of work camps. While in Pakistan there was another flare up with India over Kashmir, with clamor for war rising in the country: "These attempts to create a war psychology are so obvious and artificial that they would be quite enjoyable for their comic opera aspects if it weren't for their more serious consequences." Massive dust storm in Lalukhet while working with refugees. In Pakistan, unlike US, "a person can be completely destitute, and yet not lose one iota of dignity thereby... Here, where one does not expect to be evaluated on the basis of his possessions, one treats his lack of them with much the same sort of impersonal detachment one might have toward, say, the size of his shirt collar."