The Hindu Business Line : A walk down Marine Drive

Jawaharlal Nehru, looking smart in jeans and T-shirt, joined Gandhiji and JRD, on a long walk down Marine Drive, which was empty. A quarrel broke out between JRD and Jawahar over the July 26 rains.

GANDHIJI, in a white pyjama and kurta, was standing on Marine Drive taking in the early morning air. It being Raksha Bandhan, an old lady, more wrinkles than skin, came up to a cheerful Gandhiji and tied a rakhi on his right wrist. The Old Man turned to JRD, standing beside him in off-grey pants and a flowery bush shirt, and asked for a Rs 10-note as a brother has to give something to a sister on the occasion. "You always put your hands into my pockets while fighting for Independence and continue to do so. Tell me, you don't have a tenner on you?" said JRD before coming up with a Rs 50-note, which Gandhiji passed on to the woman. When the woman made her way after blessing both, the Old Man mused: "JRD, Raksha Bandhan is one festival I have always enjoyed. My greatest regret in life is that I never had a sister. We were three brothers and there was never any fun. Only a demanding sister adds pep to the proceedings."

A cool wind spiked with rains blew in from the Arabian Sea when Jawaharlal Nehru, looking smart in a jeans and a T-shirt, joined them. They started on a long walk down Marine Drive, which was empty. Even before they had strode for five minutes a quarrel broke out between JRD and Jawahar over the rains of July 26. It started with JRD asking Gandhiji how he managed to stay afloat. "At Nariman Point, there were no floods and the pedestal of my statue is high enough to protect me from man and water," Gandhiji clarified, and added, "It was a strain standing wet for an entire week."

Volatile Jawahar blamed the private sector and building contractors for destroying Mumbai, while JRD could not resist a juicy jab: "But it was the State Government which okayed the builders to build and for politicians there was money in putting up slums on Government land." Jawahar never was comfortable with the ways of JRD or Gandhiji. He wanted to get into a scrap with JRD but Gandhiji got them out of it by quietly inquiring of JRD why he was in town at this time of the year. "The Parsi New Year Day falls on Saturday and I have not had a Parsi peg of rum with my Parsi friends for long at the Harbour Bar of my Taj," JRD answered prompting a query from Jawahar: "So you won't offer prayers at the Parsi Fire Temple?" JRD passed the question and the three flickered with belly laughs.

When the walk ended near the Hilton Towers, JRD invited the two for a Taj lunch. Around mid-afternoon, Gandhi, wearing Sania Mirza spectacles, Nehru and JRD took their reserved seats at the Harbour Bar. JRD ordered a Parsi peg of rum, Jawahar a Scotch and the Old Man a glass of French wine. None at the Bar recognised them and were left alone. Before the "Cheers," the Old Man wanted to be sure on who was picking the bill. "Come off it. I am picking the bill," assured JRD. After the "Cheers," they got on to political gossip of who made what on which contract only to drop it in disgust.

"JRD what are you reading these days," asked Nehru and came the cheery reply: "Service with a Smile, A Blandings Story, by Wodehouse. These days Wodehouse provides me the only amusement. In this book, Lord Emsworth loses his cool (perhaps for the first time?) when he comes to know that his beloved pig, the Empress, is to be filched by a publisher. Only Wodehouse can come up with a reference to a book titled "The Confessions of Alphonse, The Reminiscences of a French Waiter." An agitated Nehru kept down his glass of Scotch and muttered, "Flippant. You have not yet got over Wodehouse. I spend all my time on how my relative Sonia Gandhi bleeds in the Lok Sabha for the rural and tribal poor. She has read her Marx or at least gets somebody to read Marx to her regularly. When there are 400 million Indians without food, Bapu watches the Ashes series, while you laugh over the life of a fat pig. No doubt the younger generation is distracted by Page 3 personalities."

To ease the mood, JRD ordered a second round, which got Gandhiji going. "The Ashes series is the best thing happening in the world. I am supporting Australia and my wife, Kasturba, is backing England to spite me. Result, uncertain till the last ball. Players and viewers tense. And then to read the despatches in Guardian and other papers the next day. One is not sure which is better — the game or the writing, " Gandhiji exclaimed as JRD and Nehru were privately tackling the political economy of Dr Manmohan Singh.

For long, the Old Man listened, before butting in: "When I started life I thought God was Truth. Then I thought Truth was God. Now, I know there is neither God nor Truth. There is only politics." Nehru and JRD stared at Gandhiji as he requested the waiter to switch on the TV to watch a replay of the Ashes series.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Catching on!

Time to bond

A walk down Marine Drive

Cartoon