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Above: India's First Lady. Below, first from bottom - Receiving the Japanese P.M. Second from bottom - Heading down to dinner in the White House. Third from bottom - with her husband, India's Prime Minister.

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Gursharan Kaur:
India's Classy First Lady

by KHUSHWANT SINGH [Author of 'The History of the Sikhs']

 

Sardarni Gursharan Kaur recently released Songs of the Gurus (Penguin/Ravi Dayal) by Arpana Caur and me at Delhi's Le Meridien Hotel.

It was the third book to be launched by Gursharan that week. As expected, there was a large turnout, not because of the book but to have her darshan and hear her speak.

She spoke very well. The audience had a hearty laugh when she said something about my boorish manner. She had come to visit me and apparently after 15 minutes or so, I told her, "Gursharan, now you go - toon hun ja." I said so because I felt a prime minister's wife had more important things to do than to waste time making polite conversation with an old man.

I returned home happily exhausted and served myself a hefty Patiala to re-charge my battery. I began to muse over the work of wives of men in positions of power. In Western democracies, they play positive roles. Besides looking after their homes and children, they receive visiting heads of states, sit beside them at state banquets and join their husbands at social functions.

Not so in India.

I went over the names of past presidents. Not one of their wives - with the marginal exception of Begum Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed - played any role in events at the Rashtrapati Bhawan (India's Presidential Palace). It was the same in the cases of our prime ministers.

Nehru was a widower. Shastri's wife remained unknown during his brief tenure. Indira Gandhi's husband was living apart when she was P.M. Sonia remained largely homebound during her husband's time as prime minister. No one heard of the wives of Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Deve Gowda, V.P. Singh or Narasimha Rao. And Vajpayee was a bachelor. Inder Gujral's wife was a minor exception - a poet in her own right and evidently not an enthusiastic participant in her husband's official activities.

Gursharan Kaur is the first woman who has performed the duties expected of the wife of the Prime Minister of India.

I don't know much of her background and the Internet data on her is very scanty. She was born in Jalandhar, Punjab, in 1937. Her father worked for Burmah Shell. At the time of Partition, he was posted in Lahore, where she had her primary schooling. They migrated to the Indian Punjab. She joined Guru Nanak Kanya Pathshala and went on to do her degree from the Government College for Women in Patiala, Punjab.

Then she moved to Amritsar and got a B.T. from the Khalsa College, evidently intending to be a school teacher. She married Sardar Manmohan Singh in 1958. It was an arranged affair. It was a happy union, which produced three very bright daughters who earned distinctions on their own.

Gursharan is devoutly religious and has a melodious voice. She sang keertan and songs for All India Radio several times before she accompanied her husband who took up a job at the World Bank in the U.S. It was in America and later in Bombay, when her husband was Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, that she imbibed a Western sophistication.

She was not so much in demand as the wife of the Finance Minister as she is now as the wife of the Prime Minister. She acquits herself with great poise and dignity.

Perhaps wives of all our future presidents and prime ministers should do a course in a school that teaches the proper deportment for ladies in positions of importance.

 

[Courtesy: Hindustan Times]

January 11, 2009

Conversation about this article

1: Pritam Singh Grewal (Canada), January 11, 2009, 9:34 PM.

An interesting though brief introduction in Khushwant's style. Sardarni Gursharan Kaur looks graceful as well as thoughtful.

2: Iqbal Singh Bhan (Canton, Michigan, U.S.A.), January 11, 2009, 11:43 PM.

I am a Sikh with turban and have been living in the U.S. since 1960. In the 60's there were not many Sikhs in America. Now, by the grace of God, our Prime Minister Sardar Manmohan Singh has brought the name of Sikhs name to an elevated level and people recognize us as Sikhs. We are very proud of this. May Satguru give him a long life. Since last year, I have been performing in America as a Stand-up Comedian (aka Bali Bhan) and my audience generally recognize that I am Sikh. That makes me feel good.

3: Chintan Singh (San Jose, U.S.A.), January 12, 2009, 8:36 PM.

Sardarni Gursharan Kaur should start a crash course for future wives of P.M.'s and other political leaders, teaching them of the roles and responsibilities required of them in their respective constituencies, and to serve as a role model. Rabri Devi (wife of Laloo Prasad Yadav) may prove the toughest student, though!

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India's Classy First Lady "









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