Who are the people that Nehru remembers on this occasion
Answers
I was lying in bed with a plaster cast at the age of 16, soon after the tribal invasion of the Kashmir Valley had begun. We were in Jammu and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru came on a brief visit to the palace, but I was not able to see him. Having grown up reading his books and being inspired by them, especially his autobiography and Discovery of India, I complained to my father for not having had the opportunity to meet him. When he came for the second time, my father brought him into my room and said to him, “Tiger is your great admirer.”
He asked how I was and good naturedly apologised for not having seen me on his first visit. I requested him to sign my copy of his autobiography. He was in the room for barely three minutes, but I was deeply struck by the agility with which he moved and that unforgettable smile, pensive yet intensely human.
Kashmir was very close to his heart and as prime minister he would visit it as often as feasible. He loved to stay in our Chashmashahi Guest House in Srinagar which, incidentally, is the house where my parents were married and now "Raj Bhavan". As Sadr-i-Riyasat, I would invariably receive him at the airport and accompany him in an open car to his residence. Despite his unrivalled political status, he was an intensely human person, and it was always a privilege to be in his company. He visited pour house in Srinagar on several occasions, and attended the house-warming of our Delhi residence in the late fifties. He invariably wore a red rose in his jacket and carried a short cane. The word "charisma" is now-a-days loosely bandied around, but Jawaharlal Nehru had this indescribable aura in full measure.
#1 Early days of Independence: Despite disagreements with him on many issues Jawaharlal Nehru was handpicked by the Mahatma to lead the new India that would emerge after independence. Those who have not lived through that period can hardly comprehend the extent of the chaos and upheaval that accompanied partition. To stabilise and consolidate the situation after independence required statesmanship of a high order, and the cabinet led by Jawaharlal Nehru, including such stalwarts like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as deputy prime minister and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, was able to do this.The first great achievement of Jawaharlal Nehru after independence, therefore, was to hold the ship of state firm amid the turbulent waters of the partition process, despite predictions of the prophets of doom, including Winston Churchill that after the British left India would balkanise and break into a dozen units.