December 26, 1972

When they [the reporters] cannot get something from one person, they go to somebody else—and it works. In any event, I won't see them anymore.

(Pranab explodes:) If I meet them again, I'll smash their cameras.

I don't want any violence or nasty scenes here.

(Pranab retreats to the other end of the room, muttering angrily)

(Mother sits with her head in her hands) I have worked all my life so people would become a little conscious. But this violence....

(Mother turns to one of the teachers with a kind of distress in her voice)

People say that I am old, that I can't speak, that I am senile, but the consciousness has never been so clear.... One minute of silence and....

(the teachers leave the room silently, Mother remains alone with her bodyguard and the attendant)