Cherished Memories of the South Block

Cherished Memories of the South Block

 

The majestic Rashtrapati Bhawan is flanked by North and South Blocks on the Raisina Hill in the Lutyens New Delhi; the seat of power of India that is Bharat. In its close vicinity is located Teen Murti House which was official residence of the first PM of India, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sansad Bhawan (Parliament House). Teen Murti House has since been converted into Pradhanmanri Sangralya - PMs Museum and the new Sansad Bhawan has come up to replace he dignified round building which has been rechristened as the Savidhan Bhawan. With changing times since independence in 1947, the old is getting replaced with new to meet the requirements of space and status and also security and rightly so. The offices of Finance Minister and Home Minister located in the North Block and offices of External Affairs Minister and also of Defense Minister including the Chief of Army Staff located in South Block are being shifted to newly built Kartavya Bhawans. PMO housed in South Block, the epic center of power is being shifted to newly built Sewa
Teerth which will also accommodate Cabinet Secretariat and the offices of  NSA and RAW. During the course of my career in the MEA/PMO, I have several opportunities to visit Rashrapati Bhawan, Teen Murti House, Sansad Bhawan; a satisfying and elating experience. The South and North Blocks, after about 100 years of remaining the seat of power, will now house – Yuge Yugeen National Museum which will “showcase 10000 years of India’s civilizational continuity’ according to Minister of Culture; Gajendra Shekhawat.

 My motivation to write something on the PMO emanated from the shifting of PMO from South Block to the newly built Sewa Teerth on February 13 as I have had the opportunity and honour to sit and serve in my humble capacity in the MEA not only in PMO but also sitting close to the offices of EAM, Defense Minister and Chief of the Army Staff in South Block during my career in the MEA and PMO. I still cherish the memories of seeing the who’s who in the Indian hierarchy and also the foreign dignitaries who came to meet and talk to PMs namely; Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and EAMs; Swaran Singh, Y.B. Chavan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the PMO and its Cabinet and Committee Rooms where all the Ministers and top bureaucrats used to come for official business. I was attached to the GHO (Government Hospitality Organisation) in the PMO attached to Deputy Director (GHO), Vimla Sindhi; commonly known as Behnji from PM Nehru’s time.  My main responsibility was to look after and maintain the PM’s office and attached Committee and

Conference Rooms as a junior functionary sharing the Room No.157 close to the PM’s office.  The Conference/Committee Rooms in the PMO/MEA were also used for bilateral/multilateral negotiations with foreign dignitaries. It provided me ample opportunities to see and interact a bit on matters of hospitality not only with Indian political leadership and also high officials; PN Dhar, Yunus Mohammad, G. Parhasarthy, H.Y. Sharda Prasad and Manmohan Singh, T.N. Kaul and others from 1974 to 1977. During this stint in the PMO/MEA, I have had the opportunity to see from close world leaders like; Henry Kissinger of US, Aga Shahi of Pakistan, Andrei Gromyko of USSR, Arafat Yassar of Palestine, Hussain Muhammad Ershad of Bangla Desh, Abdul Aziz of Pakistan, Kamal Hossain, Earlier to this as a junior functionary in the MEA, my office room (Interpreters Cell) was located near to the offices of Defense Minister and Chief of the Army Staff. I got ample opportunities to see the ten Defense Minister, Babu Jagjivan Ram and Sam Manekshaw quite often. My several small encounters with these highly placed dignitaries are still live in my cherished memories of my days in the South Block. Things change with time and it must but some of the memories of good and bad times remain indelible in one’s mind.  There are many

anecdotes of my small but meaningful encounters and resultant interaction with the top hierarchy of India and some of the famous world personalities during my stint in the MEA/PMO which I tend to share off and on in my blogs as and when occasion arises. With this, I only hope that PMO becomes Sewa Teerth and the Kartavya Bhawans become offices of Kartavya in reality only then the mindset of slaver or colonial subjugation changes to ‘Atamnirbharar and Vikishit Bharat as visualized by PM Narendra Modi.

Rulata Hai Tera Nazara Ae Hinduston! Mujh Ko
Ke Ibrat Khaiz Hai Tera Fasana Sub Fasanon Mein

(Your spectacle makes me shed tears, O India!
Your tales are admonitory among all the tales)