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Virendra
Dayal's Schooldays
 Early
evidence of greatness to come can be gleaned
from the pages of old school magazines. At
first we do not hear much about Virendra, but
by 1945 there are the first stirrings - a
general proficiency prize in class IV. By the
next year he was in full cry, claiming
special prizes in Mathematics, Science and
the fortnightly orders apart from class
prize. He carried his colours outside the
classroom winning honours in Music, a feat he
had already achieved in the previous
year.
We
gather from Col. Alan Thompson, an old
classmate of his, that somewhere along the
way Virendra was given a double promotion,
but that was no handicap as it might well
have turned out to be. We see from the Prize
list of 1948 that Virendra makes a virtual
sweep of all the prizes: Class prize,
Mathematics, Science and the languages (both
Hindi and English).
In
1949, apart from his usual class prizes, he
made forays into the literary world earning
commendation in Junior English Prize
examination and walking off with the Senior
General Knowledge Prize and the Under-15
elocution.
His
dramatic talent flowered in 1949 when in the
Mock Trial he was the exalted Hon'ble Justice
Victor Leopard - Scare! In Charley's Aunt his
performance as 'Charles Wykeham' the
undergraduate was described as 'well
portrayed'. Later his role as Mr. Sticklebck
in 'Good-Bye, Mr. Chips', earned him this
comment- "Mr. Stickleback (V. Dayal) had
a range of facial expressions which many of
the others lacked; it gave vigour to what
otherwise might have been a stilted part; and
his interpretation of Mr. Raltson, the
bullying headmaster, was the best piece of
acting in the play.
His
final year was a fanfare of trumpets-the
Hindi essay prize, prizes for English,
Science, Hindi, Senior English Elocution,
General Knowledge and a special mathematics
prize - a truly brilliant academic career at
school culminating in final glory and honour
when he won the Taylor Memorial Prize in the
Cambridge School Certificate for the best
result with distinctions (Honours in
modern-day parlance) in as wide a spectrum of
subjects: English, Religious Knowledge,
Hindi, Elementary Mathematics and Chemistry.
He was placed 4th on the Provincial List.
Virendra
then attended university at St. Stephen's
College,
Delhi, where he read History.
We
give below his biographical note:
Biographical
Note
Mr.
Dayal was born in Allahabad India, on 29
January 1935. He schooled in Sherwood
College, NainiTal and attended university at
St. Stephen's College, Delhi (1951-56) and,
as a Rhodes scholar, at University College,
Oxford (1956-58).
In
1958, Mr. Dayal joined the Indian
Administrative Service. He served in Naini
Tal, Rampur and Moradabad districts before
being posted to the Government of India in
the Ministry of Community Development and
Cooperation in 1963.
In
1965, Mr. Dayal joined the office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), serving in Geneva between 1978-79.
During the latter period, Mr. Dayal worked as
Executive Assistant to the High Commissioner.
Between 1968-78, Mr. Dayal served in the
Regional Office of UNHCR at United Nations
Headquarters, first as Deputy and then as
Regional Representative. During this period
with UNHCR, Mr. Dayal undertook numerous
missions for the office, notably in Africa,
Asia and the Americas. In 1972, Mr. Dayal
worked as a Special Assistant to the head of
the UN Relief Operation in Bangladesh.
In
1979, Mr. Dayal was appointed Director,
office of Special Political Affairs, in the
Offices of the Secretary-General. He was
responsible for peace keeping operations,
notably in the Middle East.
In
1982, Mr. Dayal was asked by
Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar to serve
as his Chef de Cabinet. This he did until the
end of Mr. Perez de Cuellar's term in
December 1991. During this period Mr. Dayal
held the rank of Under-Secretary-General. As
Chef de Cabinet, Mr. Dayal's functions
required involvement in all aspects of the
work of the United Nations, not least Human
Rights. Mr. Dayal was thus closely associated
with the exercise of the Secretary-General's
"good offices" functions in
remedying instances of Human Rights
violations.
With
the election of Mr. Boutros-Ghali as
Secretary-General, Mr. Dayal continued to
serve as Chef de Cabinet until the end of
February 1993. He thereafter retired from the
career service of the United Nations. The
incoming Secretary-General, however,
requested Mr. Dayal to assist him in the
writing of "An Agenda for Peace~,
required in response to the declaration
adopted by the Summit Meeting of the Security
Council of 31 January 1992. He also asked Mr.
Dayal to undertake a mission to South Africa
with Mr. Cyrus Vance in July 1992 and,
subsequently, as his Personal Envoy, in
September 1992.
Since
returning home to India later that year, Mr.
Dayal has been asked to serve on the Indian
delegation to the World Conference on Human
Rights in Vienna in June 1993. The President
of India appointed him to a five year term as
a Member of the recently constituted National
Human Rights Commission of India in October
1993.
Mr.
Dayal was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1992.
He
is married to Indra Gupta. They have two
daughters, Divya and Jaya.
To
get a wider vision of him, we read extracts
from an article in 'The Pioneer' entitled 'An
Officer and a Gentleman': "Recently
awarded the Padma Bhushan, Dayal has spent
nearly three decades with the United Nations,
Born in Allahabad, the only attribute that
can be considered a legacy of his home state
is the excessive politeness and graciousness
that he exhibits. St Stephen's and then a
stint at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, he was
determined not to work abroad and was
interested in the development of his own
country, and therefore opted for the IAS.
But, "fortuitously", he joined
the
U.N. and was with them for the last 27
years."
During
this period his responsibilities were varied
and interesting, but there were situations
that he recalls as high points. One was while
he was with the refugee front, and in this
connection, he remembers the Bangladesh
crisis, as "an immense experience both
in professional and emotional terms - to see
what people can do to each other both to
cause injury and to help." Immediately
after Independence, he and his UN counterpart
in Pakistan, were responsible for the
repatriation of a quarter of a million people
and this was even before the POWs were
returned. The world acknowledged the role the
UN had played in this area, by awarding the
Nobel Peace Prize to the office of the High
Commissioner for Refugees.
In
the interview he talks of "the
exhausting and fascinating" assignment
as 'Chef de Cabinet', working closely with
the former Secretary - General, Perez de
Cuellar, a man he describes as one with
"absolute impartiality and a
determination not to be discouraged". At
the time, "nothing was simple. There was
the problem in Afghanistan, in Nicaragua, in
South Africa, in Angola, in the Horn of
Africa and in Cambodia - all had deep
overtones of the Cold War, and before the
game had ended, it was played to the hilt in
all its violence and capacity to paralyze
efforts at sensible governance. It was a
difficult time made worse by the financial
crisis". And Dayal recalls that at the
end of a particularly difficult day, the
Secretary - General would say, "Viru, I
don't have the right to be discouraged."
The change in Russia's outlook, the era of
perestroika brought about by Gorbachev,
signified a change in climate which came to
its fullness at the end of the Iran-Iraq War.
"That was really a moment of
transcendence, of joy, because the war had
taken such a heavy toll of life and so much
suffering, and nobody quite knew how it would
end." Significantly, when the Nobel
Peace Prize for Peace, was given, Dayal and
the Secretary-General both went to Oslo.
Later
he says, "The new Secretary-General,
Boutros Boutros-Ghali asked him to serve on a
mission to South Africa, "for the
situation there was getting ripe for
change". Dayal went first with Cyrus
Vance and then alone, and made certain
suggestions on the way in which the UN could
help. "And the ideas seemed to make
sense to all concerned, as a consequence of
which, the UN now has a very healthy presence
in South Africa." At the time of the
second mission, the immediate problem was
that Mandela and President De Clerk weren't
speaking to each other, because of the
violence that had broken out in the township
and the ANC felt the government should be
more responsive in the control of violence.
There was therefore, the immediate necessity
to create an environment that would bring the
two leaders together. "So I met Mr.
Mandela a few times and President de Clerk,
and as a result of intense discussions
between the respective representatives, they
did meet. I was very happy because I think
the support and encouragement of the UN was
what greatly helped in bringing this
about.
On
a question on the future role of the UNO, he
said that the organisation would have greater
significance in times to come - economic and
social development, protection of human
rights and the care and understanding of the
environment. The functions will be
increasingly "encyclopaedic".
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