“I miss Old Delhi parathas, but enjoy New Delhi’s South Indian cuisine”

For statesman, writer and philosopher Dr. Karan Singh, being ‘king’ came with its own set of disadvantages. Having spent a large part of his life in Delhi, he tells Rana Siddiqui Zaman about how he missed out on the small things

September 22, 2014 08:29 am | Updated 10:22 am IST

Dr. Karan Singh. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Dr. Karan Singh. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Impeccably dressed in a black safari suit and his signature cap, Dr. Karan Singh is a picture of dignity and poise when it comes to discussing serious stuff; warm and delightful when the dialogue veers towards Urdu ashars (couplets) or songs of yore, eastern or western; and playful like a child while talking of the Walled City’s Paranthe Wali Gali and other “delicious preparations”.

Taking his favourite centre seat in his study — overlooking a photograph of wife, Yasho Rajya Lakshmi, the late Princess of Nepal — at his Nyaya Marg residence, he begins: “I came to Delhi for the first time in 1944 with my father, Raja Hari Singh of Jammu & Kashmir, and we had lunch with the then Viceroy of India Lord Wavell at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. After that I kept coming to Delhi intermittently. I have seen the Union Jack [the British flag] flying over Parliament.”

The octogenarian, a product of The Doon School, finally came to Delhi in 1967 after resigning as the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir and was inducted into Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet. “I was 36-year-old then, the youngest ever person to become a Central Cabinet Minister [with Tourism and Civil Aviation portfolios],” he smiles coyly.

He laments that from those days — when debates used to be laced with anecdotes/examples/teachings from doyens of literature, philosophy, art and culture — the standard of debates has gone down in Parliament. “After having seen people like Jawaharlal Nehru, Zakir Hussain and Maulana Azad debating, now the atmosphere has changed completely. I fondly remember how Dr. Zakir Hussain used to take me to his favourite rose garden and recite Sanskrit shlokas to explain their beauty. Those were the days....”

Author of 17 books, Dr. Karan Singh did his post-graduation in political science and Ph.D. from Delhi. “When I was doing my Ph.D. on Sri Aurobindo from Delhi University, I was Sadr-e-Riyasat of Jammu & Kashmir. So Delhi University changed its statutory laws saying that if the Chancellor of a University wants to do his thesis, he need not attend classes, but he will have to come to Delhi to take an exam. So I changed history, you know?” he laughs heartily.

For this great-great-grandson of Jammu & Kashmir’s first Maharaja Gulab Singh, leaving Kashmir and making Delhi his permanent home is “no big deal” anymore.

“Delhi has expanded exponentially. Since it has no natural barriers like rivers, mountains or deserts, it has grown in all directions. In the past 10 years to 15 years, Delhi has undergone a tremendous change. Look at our international airport. It is better than many airports in the world. The Delhi Metro is an engineering marvel — how could they make it without disturbing one element on the road? I used to wonder how thousands of labourers worked silently in those covered areas, and when it opened for public consumption, it was so big....” he gesticulates with his hands and breaks into a chuckle.

On the house he moved to, Dr. Karan Singh says: “When I took this plot, the area was a jungle, complete with the howling of wolves. Yahan geedad bolte the . Logon ne kaha kya pagal ho ? Jungle main makaan kyon le liya ? But I did not want to use Government accommodation and go through the process of vacating it when my tenure expired. But Chankayapuri has developed amazingly. It is great example of modern architecture.”

As one from the “royalty”, Dr. Karan Singh has attended more privileged dinners and spent more time at the airport than on the road. He smiles and agrees: “A ‘King’ has his own disadvantages; I have not been privy to Delhi life as many people may have. I have moved more in cars than on roads.”

Though afond of delicious food, he has barely had the chance to move around the narrow alleys of the Walled City.

“I know of good stand-alone restaurants for South Indian food, like Dakshin, which has four menus from the four southern States. I certainly miss Old Delhi’s Paranthe Wali Gali and other delicious preparations there. But I go to the mazar of Maulana Azad every year [Azad was the founder of the Indian Council of Culture Relations and Dr. Karan Singh is its chairperson]. Otherwise, I walk in my garden. When I go for a walk outside, there is a guard with a gun behind me. It doesn’t look nice.”

An authority on art and culture, especially Pahari miniatures and folk songs, Dr. Karan Singh feels Delhi has done little in terms of increasing its art and culture scenario internationally. Notably, as the chairperson of ICCR for nine years, he established 40 cultural centres, 200 offices and 5,000 scholarships across the country.

For this recipient of Padma Vibhushan, Delhi has had its highs and lows. “The greatest triumph was liberation of Bangladesh and disaster was Khalistan movement. We saw thousands of Bangladeshi refugees rushing in. We were involved emotionally. I remember when Mrs. Gandhi came running inside Parliament, raised her hands and said: ‘Please listen. I have an announcement to make. Bangladesh stands liberated from now on’. It was a huge relief for so many of us.”

Similarly, following Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, he adds that “it was not ‘communal riot’ that followed, it was a pogrom. I was not in the government those days, so I was not part of it politically or personally, but the pain of watching it happen has not subsided yet,” he says.

As he walked to the gate to see off this correspondent, Dr. Karan Singh broke into a couplet from Iqbal”

Nigah buland, sukhan dil nawaz, juban pursoz

Yahi hai rakhte safar, meer-e-karwan ke liye

(Esteem in eyes, compassion in your heart, politeness in speech;

These are the rules for a leader to lead)

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