SINGAPORE, WEEKEND OF FRIDAY,
JANUARY 24, 2014
MCI (P) 031/11/2013
T H E H E A R T B E A T O F T H E I N D I A N C O M M U N I T Y
THE
SUNANDA
I KNEW
PAGE 4
ALIA
ROUGHS
IT OUT
PAGE 19
PAINTER
WITH A
VIEW
PAGES 8 & 9
INTEGRATION
THROUGH
CRICKET
PAGE 11
PATRICK JONAS
I
N LATE November, India’s high
commissioner to Singapore Vijay
Thakur Singh had, during a casual
chat, mentioned that she was looking
forward to the quieter year-end period
to do a bit of exploring Singapore. It
was coming to around six months since
she took office and she was keen to vis-
it some of the well-known Buddhist
and Hindu temples here. But that did
not happen.
The unfortunate incident in Little In-
dia turned the quiet period into a busy
one for her. Until then, the high com-
missioner had been busy making intro-
ductory calls on the Singapore leader-
ship and on officers of various minis-
tries; interacting with business organi-
sations, business persons, academics,
intellectuals and members of the many
think tanks in Singapore.
“I also attended a number of cultur-
al and social events through which I
have acquainted myself with the
friends of India, as well as the Indian
community. I also visited Indian mi-
grant workers in their dormitories,”
she told
tabla
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as India prepared to cel-
ebrate its 65th Republic Day.
Singapore and India place top priori-
ty on bilateral relations and since
Ms Singh took charge there has been a
spate of high-level interactions from
both sides. India’s external affairs min-
ister Salman Khurshid visited Singa-
pore in July last year and in the same
month, Singapore’s Foreign Minister
K. Shanmugam visited India.
“In August, we had the Foreign Of-
fice Consultations followed by the
CONTINUED ON PAGE
6
Diplomat’s diary
India’s high commissioner to Singapore
on her six months after taking charge
Busy... Ms Singh
has been very
active attending
numerous
community
functions since she
took charge.
PHOTO:
PATRICK
JONAS
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Police academy gets
first woman director
THE Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
National Police Academy (NPA) in
Hyderabad, where Indian Police
Service (IPS) officers are trained,
got its first woman head in 65
years. Ms Aruna Bahuguna was
appointed as the NPA director by
India’s Home Ministry. Before her
appointment she was the special
director-general of the Central
Reserve Police Force.
Private sector employees
not satisfied
A RECENT study by Paycheck India,
a research initiative of Indian
Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad revealed that the
average private sector employee in
India is unhappy. According to the
study, dissatisfaction levels among
employees have gone up since
2009. Over 13,200 people were
polled and almost 44 per cent said
they have been underpaid over the
last four years since 2009.
Beacon lights almost gone
in Karnataka
KARNATAKA state has said
goodbye to the beacon lights on
officials’ cars. After the Supreme
Court order last December that
only “high dignitaries” can use
beacon lights while on duty, the
transport department has ensured
that the order is implemented
strictly. The Supreme Court order
says only the president, prime
minister, Cabinet ministers, sitting
judges of the supreme courts
and others specified by central
and state governments can use
the lights.
Thackeray’s sons
fight over will
IT’S been over a year since former
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray died.
Now his sons, Uddhav and Jaidev,
are locked in a legal row over
property worth crores left behind
by the party patriarch. Uddhav has
moved the Bombay High Court to
probate the will of his father, who
died on Nov 17, 2012. The probate
petition of Uddhav was opposed
by his brother Jaidev, who has not
got any share in the property.
Thackeray’s property is valued at
Rs14.85 crores.
Supreme Court commutes 15
prisoners’ death sentences
THE Supreme Court in India has
commuted the death sentences of
15 convicts to life imprisonment,
citing delays in their execution as
the reason to change their
sentence. The convicts had
challenged their death sentences
on grounds of the delays due to
the time taken by the president to
answer their mercy petitions.
TN goverment okays money
for hospital dome
THE Tamil Nadu government has
sanctioned Rs6.86 crores for
completing work on the dome of
the multi-speciality hospital, which
was a secretariat earlier, in
Chennai. In addition, Rs26.93
crores was sanctioned for the civil
work and Rs76.04 crores for buying
medical equipment and furniture.
Cut in power tariff
in Maharashtra
IN A major pre-election initiative,
the Maharashtra government
slashed power tariffs by 20 per
cent across all sectors on Jan 20.
The move will provide relief to
domestic, commercial, industrial
and agricultural consumers. The
20 per cent cut will be applicable
to domestic consumers – around
1.30 crores in the state – using up
to 300 units per month.
PHOTO:
IANS
Dawoodi Bohra
spiritual leader dies
THOUSANDS (left) turned
up to mourn the death of
the spiritual leader of the
Dawoodi Bohra Muslim
community Syedna
Mohammed
Burhanuddin. He died of
a heart attack in Mumbai
on Jan 17. He was 98. So
large was the gathering
outside his residence in
Malabar Hill that it
resulted in a stampede in
which 18 mourners died.
In India, the Dawoodi
Bohra community mostly
lives in the Mumbai and
Gujarat areas of the
country.
Page 2
January 24, 2014
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INDIA
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January 24, 2014
Page 3
JACOB JOSEPH PUTHENPARAMBIL
S
OME time in March 2010, I was asked by a
well-known newspaper editor in Delhi why I
was not seen with my minister at a wedding re-
ception the previous night. I told him I was no long-
er the minister’s “plus one”.
“‘Who was the lady he was with,” he asked.
“She is the new plus one,” I replied.
From the time Shashi Tharoor won the elections
in May 2009 to late October the same year, I was
his “plus one”. We were both single in Delhi. My
wife and daughter were in Dubai and Tharoor’s sec-
ond wife, Christa Gilles, was in New York. Tharoor
was made a junior minister in the external affairs
ministry and his official residence was not ready so
we spent most of those months in a hotel living off
our suitcases.
Once the winter months hit Delhi, the get-togeth-
ers, wedding receptions and dinner parties start. In
every party it is the same people, saying and doing
the same things. You will get bored easily but you
have to be present, mainly to catch up with what
the “power circles” are saying and also your ab-
sence would be read as disrespect by the host.
I had no reason to be at these parties but Tharoor
used to take me along because two pairs of ears and
eyes are better than one. Soon my wife and daugh-
ter arrived in town and it was difficult to handle the
social scene. I started to make excuses and get unin-
vited.
By then, Sunanda Pushkar and Tharoor had
known each other for a few months and felt it was
okay to be seen in public together. Up to that point,
I had held the view that love was something people
discovered in their teenage or young adult phase of
life. Sunanda and Tharoor proved it wrong.
They were very much in love, both had been mar-
ried twice before; both had adult children from pre-
vious marriages. Sunanda had met Tharoor’s moth-
er and his sisters; Tharoor had met her side of the
family.
On a trip to Oman a few months earlier, Sunanda
had come down to Muscat from Dubai where she
was based. Since Tharoor had official dinners to at-
tend (no “plus ones” allowed!) I got to spend time
with her. One day I asked her if she wanted to have
dinner later in the evening and she said she would
meet me at 7.30pm in the lobby. I was at the lobby
at 7.30pm, preparing to wait 10 to 15 minutes be-
cause I wrongly presumed women were always late.
When I saw her waiting at the lobby, I said it was a
pleasant surprise to see her on time. “I am from an
army family, we are always punctual,” was her re-
sponse.
Dinner conversation was mostly about her fami-
ly. Mostly about her son, Shiv Menon, and how she
decided to move to Canada to offer him a better
life. Her life as an entrepreneur in Canada and Du-
bai, her previous marriages were interesting stories.
Since the minister of external affairs had a heavy
travel schedule, opportunities to meet each other
were limited. Tharoor might have been one of the
first Indian politicians on Twitter but it was Sunan-
da who introduced him to the BlackBerry Messen-
ger (BBM). It was on their BlackBerrys that they
talked to each other. She hated Twitter. She used to
complain that Tharoor spent a lot of time on it and it
was the reason for his “controversies”. Later on,
she yielded and joined Twitter herself.
At times, I do think how different the turn of
events would have been if they hadn’t introduced
each other to Twitter and BBM.
The IPL controversy and Tharoor’s resignation
was a test for their relationship. They came out with
flying colours. The last time I met Sunanda was in
Hong Kong a few years ago. She told me I had lost
weight. I told her she looked the same. I have not
talked to either of them for close to three years. It
would not be fair on my part to comment on what
happened in the recent past.
When I heard about Sunanda’s passing and some
referring to it as suicide, I was surprised. There is no
way the Sunanda I knew was ever going to take her
own life and leave her son alone. She lived for her
son and wanted to see him make it in the Hindi mov-
ie industry.
As the news broke, I wrote to Tharoor offering
my condolences. There will be speculation about his
political future and theories about Sunanda’s death.
I don’t think any of that matters to Tharoor and
Shiv. Much more than a “plus one”, they have lost a
part of themselves.
➥
Jacob Joseph Puthenparambil (right)
is a digital communications
professional based in Singapore.
He was Shashi Tharoor’s election
campaign manager and chief of staff
during 2009-10.
The Sunanda I knew
Tharoor’s
former
chief of
staff
talks
about
the time
when
the
minister
and his
late wife
met
Happier times... (left)
Union Minister of State for
Human Resource
Development Shashi
Tharoor with his wife
Sunanda Pushkar at a
function. (Below)
Mr Tharoor at her funeral.
Seated on his left is
Ms Pushkar’s son
Shiv Menon.
PHOTOS:
IANS,
©
AFP
– Mr Jacob Joseph Puthenparambil
Page 4
January 24, 2014
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