HVK Archives: Big Man Small Pleasure
Big Man Small Pleasure - The India Today
Saba Naqvi Bhaumik
()
April 20, 1998
Title: Big Man Small Pleasure
Author: Saba Naqvi Bhaumik
Publication: The India Today
Date: April 20, 1998
Dogs, Cats and Disneyland are not naturally associated with Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But few politicians have
separated the public from the private as successfully as
Vajpayee. There is the public stage where Vajpayee the mass
politician has endured for four decades. The stage that has
successfully created the persona of the master orator, statesman
and poet, rolled into one. Then there is the private Vajpayee,
far removed from the hurly burly of politics, living in a tiny
universe that is all his very own.
For a man occupying the centre stage and besieged by self-seeking
cronies and plain hangers-on, Vajpayee is a strange recluse. At
the epicentre of his universe is the Kaul family that Vajpayee
has made his own. The association dates back to his Gwalior days.
In the '60s when the late B.N. Kaul was teaching in Delhi's
Ramjas College, Vajpayee became an integral part of his
household. Today, Vajpayee and his adopted family are
inseparable.
Granddaughter Neharika and Vajpayee form an exclusive mutual
admiration society. The child is clearly the apple of his eye,
happily weaving her way through the SPG guards to command her
rightful place in "nanaji's" lap. Neha, says a family friend,
"can always bring a smile to Atalji's face".
Proud parents Namita and Ranjan Bhattacharya remain the anchors
of the household at 7 Safdarjung Road, now preparing for the
shift to the official residence on Race Course Road. Thirty-
eight-year-old Ranjan became something of a point man for
Vajpayee during the election campaign. In 1996, during the 13 -
day government, Ranjan was appointed officer on special duty in
the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). This time, however, he has
reverted to private life and his hotel marketing business. "1996
was different as we were unprepared for what happened. But I have
a business to run, to which I'm getting back after two months,"
says Ranjan. Vajpayee had felt the need for a family member to
accompany him through the gruelling campaign. "Baapji is very
reserved," says Ranjan. "He doesn't communicate with many people.
That's why I was there to look after his personal needs, his
health. Baapji has always insisted I am just a family member.
Nothing more. But yes, I'll be involved when he is
electioneering."
The past three months saw Ranjan constantly at Vajpayee's side,
trying to screen uninvited callers and hangerson. The process
involved changing the numbers of his cell phones thrice in two
months. Now, life is slowly returning to normal for members of
the Vajpayee household. Ranjan has returned to his South Delhi
office. Namita has always insulated herself from the political
world surrounding "Baapji".Like Vajpayee, she also has a way with
children. A primary schoolteacher, Namita is a great hit with her
students, keeping in touch with many even after they pass out.
When Vajpayee was leader of the Opposition, she would often take
some of the children home and give them a free run of the
sprawling lawns of the Lutyens' bungalow. One parent laughs: "My
kids have run across the lawns, clambered on to Vajpayee. He may
be the prime minister today but to the kids, he was just nanaji
who liked having them around, and lived in a great big house with
lots of men carrying wonderful guns."
Between the guns and the guards there are also two dogs, Sassy
and Sophie, and a cat named Ritu, who spends hours keeping pace
with the SPG commandos. An old family retainer remembers Vajpayee
breeding rabbits in the early '70s, and always keeping pet
dogs.Vajpayee's idea of relaxation, says Ranjan, is to play with
the dogs and take them for long walks. Far removed from the
stereotype of a serious writer-poet, Vajpayee is also known to
disappear with murder mysteries purloined from Namita's bedside
table. Between serious political biographies and Hindi fiction,
he does not hesitate to browse through the latest bestsellers
>from the West. During the election campaign, Vajpayee was seen
lost in a John Grisham. Eventually, he read The Client and The
Firm on the stump.
Along with the pets and kids, another permanent fixture in the
Vajpayee household is the burly, mustachioed Shiv Kumar, his man
Friday for the past 30 years. It was on the instructions of the
jana Sangh that Shiv Kumar gave up his law practice to work full
time for Vajpayee in 1969. He has remained with him since. "I
have been Atalji's chaprasi, cook, bodyguard, secretary and
constituency manager, all in one." Clearly a man with a vantage
view of the prime minister. In all his 30 years, swears Shiv
Kumar, Vajpayee has never raised his voice at him. "But we all
know when he's in a bad mood. He just stops talking and
withdraws." Of course, it is sometimes difficult to gauge
Vajpayee's mood since he is, at the best of times, reticent. "I
have never seen such a patient listener," says Shiv Kumar.
Vajpayee in a good mood is distinctly more colourful. Such as
during a 1993 trip to the US. It was a holiday Shiv Kumar can
never forget. After the official engagements, the two visited
first the Grand Canyon, and then Disneyland. Vajpayee, then 69
years old, was fascinated. He tried out ride after ride with
childish enthusiasm. "We stood in the queues for each and every
ride," laughs Shiv Kumar. "I don't think I have ever seen him in
such a jolly mood."
Like his great hero Jawaharlal Nehru, foreign travel inevitably
put Vajpayee in a great mood. That's when the dhoti-kurta is
replaced with bandhgallas and casual trousers and shirts. Mukund
Modi, a New York City paediatrician with a practice in Brooklyn
East and a home in Staten Island, has known Vajpayee since the
late '70s. Modi, founder-president of the Overseas Friends of the
BJP, is one of the few people who can qualify as a close friend
of Vajpayee. It is with Modi and his wife Kokila that Vajpayee
has tasted New York's culinary delights. "He's particularly fond
of Mexican food," says Modi. It is with the Modis that Vajpayee
has seen some of the greatest Broadway shows-fiddler on the Roof
Evita-and even rented a video print of The Gods Must Be Crazy.
Modi has obviously seen a side to Vajpayee that few Indians have
glimpsed: loitering down the streets of New York wearing trousers
and a blue checked bush shirt, buying cold drinks and ice cream
cones for himself and his security entourage.
Vajpayee has his favourite spots in New York. Says Modi: "He
spends hours in Schwartz (the city's largest toy shop) carefully
examining the toys while a visit to a pet store is a must. " SO
every time Vajpayee returns from a foreign trip, Neha gets a
bagful of toys while Sassy, Sophie and Ritu get the odd collar or
bone.
Vajpayee's official tours to the US have also been occasions for
him to take short vacations. A quick trip to the Niagara Falls or
a three-day holiday in Puerto Rico with the Modis in 1996. It is
during these trips to the Big Apple that Vajpayee is often
visited by Namita's elder sister Nandita, a practising
psychiatrist who lives in the US with husband Ashok Nanda, a
computers executive.
Back home too, there is the odd holiday and the close friend.
Till this year, a summer break in Manali, where Ranjan and Namita
have a house, was an annual ritual. There is also old friend,
Supreme Court advocate and member of the BJP National Executive
N.M. "Appa" Ghatate. The two have known each other since 1957
when Ghatate would visit Parliament to hear Vajpayee speak.
Ghatate remembers the then Lok Sabha Speaker Anantashayanam
Iyengar telling him that Hiren Mukherjee was the best orator in
English and the newcomer Vajpayee in Hindi. When Ghatate repeated
this to Vajpayee, his response was: "To phir borne kyo nahin deta
hai (then why does he not let me speak)?" Ghatate's devotion to
Vajpayee is touching. He put in three years work into editing the
threevolume collection of Vajpayee's parliamentary speeches.
Ghatate points to the difference between the public and private
Vajpayee. "He hardly speaks in private. He and I have travelled
together for Hours without exchanging a word. But the minute he
goes on to the public stage he is a changed man." There are other
little details about Vajpayee that Ghatate is privy to-he's never
learnt to drive. is not religious or superstitious, had a hearty
laugh when Ganesh drank milk, and has in recent years been forced
to control his love for rich, spicy food. At the same time,
Ghatate testifies to Vajpayee's reclusiveness. He recalls a
recent exchange when someone said, 'Appa you are in the prime
minister's inner circle. So what's the news?" Ghatate's reply: "I
am with a person who does not have a circle. "
Perhaps that is why Vajpayee does not appear to be particularly
close to members of his party. There was once a great friendship
with L.K. Advani, which has undoubtedly lost its spontaneity down
the years. There was overwhelming sorrow when Deen Dayal
Upadhyay, organising secretary of the Jana Sangh, whom Vajpayee
considered a close friend, was killed outside Mughal Sarai in
1967. There is still the shared sense of history and camaraderie
with Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, whose
company Vajpayee enjoys. They often talk shop over a glass of
masala coke. Jaswant Singh too qualifies both as a political ally
and personal friend, though their styles couldn't be more
different. There is a great deal of respect for P.V Narasimha
Rao, who once described Vajpayee as his "guru".
But politics is a cruel world where friendships are ephemeral.
With his poetic sensibilities, Vajpayee is probably more acutely
aware of this than the average neta (leader). At the apex of his
career, the man with the legendary charisma conveys a sense of
being embarrassed by it all. A loner who characteristically shuts
out the world by closing his eyes, relishing a quiet day at home
with Neha, the dogs and the elusive Ritu. An introvert who only
comes alive with the crowds.
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