I have had the pleasure of meeting Sitaram Kesri socially. He is a pleasant, avuncular man with a rustic sense of humour and many tales to tell of Congressleaders from the '60s and '70s. He also has a fondness for soup. On one occasion his host had only chicken soup to offer in which, unfortunately, chunks of chicken flesh were floating prominently. Mr Kesri, a strict vegetarian, was confused, but only for a moment as he found an ingenious way around the problem. Deftly, he removed the chunks of flesh with his fingers from the bowl—and when this was done, the chicken soup had miraculously become vegetarian. This he devoured merrily.
Another memory concerns a picture shot by that talented photographer Parveen Jain. Mr Kesri had returned after a complicated bypass operation in Houston, America, for which Narasimha Rao (then the PM) had provided monies and facilities. On his return, Kesri prostrated his head at Rao's feet. Parveen Jain got the perfect picture which showed Kesri at his servile best. It was printed on the front page of The Pioneer in a biggish size and our telephone lines were jammed with readers complimenting the paper for printing a picture which showed the true character of the Indian politician in generaland Kesri in particular.
The next day I ran into Kesri at a Prime Minister's luncheon. I thought, oh God, he is going to shout and complain about how foolish we made him look. To my surprise, he shook my hand and thanked me profusely for the 'beautiful |picture' we had printed.
