Here is a remarkable event vividly recorded by a witness plucked by chance, and, at the outset, not fully at one with the issues at stake, first to observe and then to partici­pate. The writer, Danny Campbell, my daughter Caroline's partner, and Sulak Sivaraksa, the prophetic central character of the tale - the latter and I go back to the middle of the last century - on the surface seem somewhat dissimilar figures. The unfamiliar and unwary might, at first glance, recognise Danny as a mentally and physically occidental pragmatist, and Sulak an unworldly gentle oriental idealist. Such, however would be pale caricatures of these two friends, the former masking someone seeking spiritual order; the latter a very sophisticated chameleon-like activist very determined to make things happen. That Danny has been inspired by Sulak finds reflection in his account, that they have in common: physical courage, identifying with the oppressed, combativeness and a carefree and wild sense of adventure, may also be glimpsed. The story's juxtaposition of twenty-first century hea vy civil engineering and fully engaged cobras and elephants with attitude and opinion magically illustrates the joined-up world of Sulak's prophetic message.

Robert McCloy
Byfleet, Surrey , UK
February 2003.