by A. J. PHILIP
PHOTO/The Hindu
A FEW days before 9/11, my wife and I were guests of the Rev C.A. Varghese of the Epiphany Mar Thoma Church in New York. He asked me whether I could give the sermon on the next Sunday. Though I was not a public speaker and my knowledge of things Biblical was limited, I accepted the invitation. At that time, I did not check what kind of American visa I had and whether I could “preach” or not.
A week earlier, author and veteran journalist David Aikman, who knows Washington like the lines on his palm, took us to the Capitol Hill and the State Department, where we were even allowed to attend the daily briefing by the State Department spokesman. I did not miss the opportunity to ask the spokesman a question. It was the first time my wife attended a Press briefing and that too at the State Department!
She was mightily pleased when I took her picture against the backdrop of the US flag at the Press briefing room. The security officials did not ask us on what basis we wanted to attend the Press briefing when we had only a tourist visa. These memories welled up in my mind when I read reports about the arrest and forced deportation of William A. Lee, Jr., an American evangelist.
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