Polite Restitution

"As warm and hearty as the welcome of a friendly family toward a beloved brother," was the way tubby Nikita Khrushchev described the welcome accorded to him and his fellow-traveler Nikolai Bulganin on their recent visit to Burma. It was an impulsive way to describe the politeness with which the Burmese had borne the visit of the bad-mannered pair, who had used their hosts' most sacred shrines as soapboxes from which to hurl insults at Britain. But the Burmese were quick to make equally polite restitution.

The Russians were scarcely gone from Burmese soil when an invitation went flying from Rangoon to London urging Britain's last Governor General in Burma, Sir Hubert Ranee, to come and spend a happy two-week vacation with his former subjects. When he got to Burma, Sir Hubert was awarded the title Agga Maha Thray Sithu, meaning Very High Big Honorable Officer of the King. Similarly honored was another servant of Empire: Britain's onetime Laborite Colonial Undersecretary, Lord Ogmore. And just to show who was who's beloved brother, the Burmese gave the Duke of Edinburgh's uncle, Earl Mountbatten, last Viceroy of India, the highest title of all: Agga Maha Thiri Thu Dhamma, or Very High Big Honorable Follower of the Righteous Path.

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