The country's second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was born in Mughalsarai (now Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar) in Uttar Pradesh. Under his leadership the country defeated Pakistan in the 1965 war. They raised slogans, 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.' He went to Tashkent to negotiate a peace agreement, where he died. On the occasion of Bharat Ratna awardee Lal Bahadur Shastri's upcoming birthday (Wednesday), here is an excerpt from the book by his son Sunil Shastri.
I always thought that we should have a big luxurious car and not a small car. When Babuji became the Prime Minister, the car he got was Hummala.
Seeing the Chevrolet, Bada ji wished that he too would get a chance to drive it. That he was the Prime Minister's son was no small matter. While thinking and taking flights of imagination, one day an opportunity came my way. Gradually our courage increased and we asked Babuji's personal secretary to give orders – Sahay Saheb, please tell the driver to take the Impala and go towards the Residency.
Within two minutes the car arrived and stopped at the door. Where were Anil bhaiya and I going to eat? Anil bhaiya said that I will not drive it, you drive it. I moved on. Asked the driver for the keys. Said- You sit, rest, we will come back immediately. What will that poor guy say? I left with the car. What a ride it was! Remembering this, wrinkles start appearing on the body. Reached where there was food. There was no consideration of time in the conversation. It's late. I remembered, Babuji must have come.
Lest Babuji finds out
After coming back home, I stopped the car in front of the gate. Got down and came to the gate. Instructed the sentry. No salute, no loot. Just open the gate slowly and if you hear a sound, do not close it, leave it open. Babuji's fear is that if he salutes loudly, there will be unnecessary noise and then Babuji will come to know of our return by the sound of the gate. They will make useless inquiries. The matter is still fresh. By morning the matter would be resolved. The sentry did as he was told.
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apologized to father
Amma was found as soon as she quietly entered through the kitchen door. Asked- Babuji has come? Did you ask anything? She said- Yes, I have come. Had asked. I said. Didn't have the courage to say anything further. To know and hear what Babuji said. Then instructed not to send anyone to the room in the morning. It is quite late at night. Will have to sleep till morning. Someone knocked at the door at 5:30 in the morning. Lost my sleep. I said in a very loud voice – I have come late at night, I want to sleep, let me sleep. Thinking that there would be some servant. He must have brought tea to wake me up, but there was a knock at the door again. He went towards the door in irritation and opened the door grumbling. Found, Babuji is standing. We couldn't think of anything, we apologized.
When Babuji asked the story of the night
I have said this without thinking. He said- No problem, come-come. We drink tea together. We said- Okay. just quickly hands and mouth
After washing he/she went to the table for tea. It seemed as if he knew the entire story of Ram. But he did not argue. Neither allowed anything to be revealed. After some time, while drinking tea, he said that Amma said, you guys have come but you are told to come very late at night. Where did you go? Answered- Yes, Babuji had gone to a place to have food. He further asked, but how did you go for dinner? When I came, the Fiat was standing at the gate, how did it go?
14 km, private pool
It has to be said that we went with the Impala-Chevrolet. Said- Oh yes, so you guys are fond of driving big cars. Babuji himself rarely used the Impala and took it out only when a state guest arrived. After listening to him, I looked towards Anil Bhaiya and gestured with my eyes. I understood that this gesture was of permission. Now we will be able to use it every day. After finishing the tea she said – Sunil, please call the driver. I called the driver.
I started crying
She asked him whether he kept a logbook or not. He replied 'yes'. He further said- Do you enter? How many cars did these people drive yesterday? It said- 14 kilometers. He instructed to write in it, 14 kilometers, private pool. Still we could not understand what he said. Then he asked to call Amma. When Amma ji came, she said, tell Sahay Saheb to deposit the money at the rate of 7 paise per kilometer. He even said that Anil bhaiya and I cannot stay there. The crying that started after she ran into the room did not stop for a long time. Both of them kept crying bitterly for a long time.
used torn clothes
One day she said – Sunil, my wardrobe is getting very disorganized. You dress her properly and also clean the room. I did all that after returning from school. The next day I was getting ready to go to school when Babuji called me and asked – You did everything very well, I am very happy, but where are those kurtas of mine? I said – There were kurtas, some were being torn from here, some from there, all were given to Amma. He asked- Which month is this? I replied – last week of October, he further said that now November will come and there will be winter days, then all this will be useful. I will wear a coat over it.
I kept looking at what Babuji was saying? He kept saying that these are all Khadi clothes. Made with great effort. May every thread of the maker be useful. I remember, I started paying attention to Babuji's clothes, what he wears, what financial condition he lives in. I had seen that once, while giving a torn kurta to Amma, he had said – turn it into a handkerchief.
