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ShareIf you ask any Indian who the most famous Indian in the world is, the answer probably would be Amitabh Bachchan or maybe Sachin Tendulkar. If you ask my father he'd probably go with Monica Bedi, or maybe Natwar Singh. No, No, definitely Monica Bedi.
However, between the Bacchans and the Bedis there are a whole lot of famous Indians who seem to have been forgotten. The list includes Prakash Singh, Jayaram and Aqueelbhai, and Jawaharlal Nehru. While the first three worked for me, as plumber, cook and electrician, the last worked for you.
Yup! Sadly, India seems to have forgotten Good Ol' JN. I mean, all over India we've got roads and universities named after the man, but for today's generation the name hardly rings a bell, let alone an sms. So who was Nehru? What exactly did he do for India? Which tooth paste did he use? Who was his favourite Hindi film actor? Did he use credit cards? Was he taller than Yahya and Liaquat?
Strangely, it's very difficult the answers to these questions. For the present generation it's important that we find the answers if we want to revive a man who played a remarkable part in our nation's birthday party. A party I couldn't attend because of the unfortunate oversight that I was about 25 years away from conception at the time.
To find out where Nehru lies in modern India's eyes, and about the India he hoped to create, I asked my three famous Indian friends about the great men.
First I approached Prakash Singh, our building plumber. "Who was Nehru?" I asked.
"Sir, it is a stadium in Pune," was Prakash Singh's educated guess.
Next I approached our cook, Jayaram. "Kaun tha Nehrusaab?"
"Sir maine suna Kashmir mai aisa kuch jagah hai". Pat came this historian's observations.
Finally I greeted Aqueelbhai with the same question. This Rhodes scholar pointed in the general direction of Malabar Hill and said something to this effect. And keep in mind I translate loosely.
"He is Garden, in Malabar Hill."
So as we wish good 'ole JN a happy birthday, maybe it's time to push off Monica Bedi and Natwar Singh from the front pages and make a little space for Nehru. It's the least we can do as apparently he made a little space for us. Now if I could only find his jacket!
