Dr. ശശി തരൂർ
ചന്ദ്രൻ തരൂരിന്റെയും ലില്ലി തരൂരിന്റെയും മകനായി 1956ൽ ലണ്ടനിൽ ജനനം.കൽക്കട്ടയിലും ബോംബെയിലുമായി കൗമാരം. ഇന്ത്യയിലും അമേരിക്കയിലും വിദ്യാഭ്യാസം നേടി. 1978 മുതൽ 2007 വരെ ഐക്യരാഷ്ട്രസഭയിൽ പ്രവർത്തിച്ചു വന്നു.
ഇന്ത്യയിൽ നിന്നുള്ള മുൻ യു.എൻ. നയതന്ത്രജ്ഞനും മുൻ കേന്ദ്ര വിദേശകാര്യ സഹമന്ത്രിയും പതിനഞ്ചാം ലോകസഭയിലെ എം.പി.യുമാണ്‌ ശശി തരൂർ. ഐക്യരാഷ്ട്രസഭയിൽ വാർത്താവിനിമയവും പബ്ലിക് ഇൻഫർമേഷനും കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യുന്ന അണ്ടർ സെക്രട്ടറി ജനറൽ ആയി പ്രവർത്തിച്ചിരുന്നു. കോഫി അന്നാനു ശേഷം യു.എൻ സെക്രട്ടറി ജനറൽ സ്ഥാനത്തേക്ക് ഭാരതസർക്കാരിന്റെ പിന്തുണയോടെ മത്സരിച്ചെങ്കിലും അനൗദ്യോഗിക വോട്ടെടുപ്പുകൾക്ക് ശേഷം വിജയപ്രതീക്ഷ നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടപ്പോൾ മത്സരത്തിൽ നിന്ന് പിന്മാറി. എഴുത്തുകാരനും പത്രപ്രവർത്തകനും കൂടിയാണ്‌ തരൂർ.
ഇന്ത്യയിൽ നിന്നുള്ള മുൻ യു.എൻ. നയതന്ത്രജ്ഞനും മുൻ കേന്ദ്ര വിദേശകാര്യ സഹമന്ത്രിയും.പതിനഞ്ചാം ലോകസഭയിലെ എം.പി.യുമാണ്‌ ശശി തരൂർ. ഐക്യരാഷ്ട്രസഭയിൽ വാർത്താവിനിമയവും പബ്ലിക് ഇൻഫർമേഷനും കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യുന്ന അണ്ടർ സെക്രട്ടറി ജനറൽ ആയി പ്രവർത്തിച്ചിരുന്നു. കോഫി അന്നാനു ശേഷം യു.എൻ സെക്രട്ടറി ജനറൽ സ്ഥാനത്തേക്ക് ഭാരതസർക്കാരിന്റെ പിന്തുണയോടെ മത്സരിച്ചെങ്കിലും അനൗദ്യോഗിക വോട്ടെടുപ്പുകൾക്ക് ശേഷം വിജയപ്രതീക്ഷ നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടപ്പോൾ മത്സരത്തിൽ നിന്ന് പിന്മാറി. എഴുത്തുകാരനും പത്രപ്രവർത്തകനും കൂടിയാണ്‌ തരൂർ.
ഇന്ത്യയിൽ 15-ആമത് ലോകസഭയിലേക്കുള്ള പൊതു തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് 5 ഘട്ടങ്ങളിലായി 2009 ,ഏപ്രിൽ 16, ഏപ്രിൽ 23,ഏപ്രിൽ 30,മേയ് 7 മേയ് 13 എന്നീ തീയ്യതികളിൽ നടന്നു .ഫലപ്രഖ്യാപനം മേയ് 16-നും നടന്നു 2009 ഫെബ്രുവരിയിൽ അവതരിപ്പിക്കപ്പെട്ട കേന്ദ്ര ബജറ്റിൽ 1,120 കോടി രൂപ തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പിനായി വിലയിരുത്തിയിട്ടുണ്ട്
മുഖ്യ തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് കമ്മീഷണർ എൻ. ഗോപാലസ്വാമി 2008 ഡിസംബർ 28-ന്‌ 2009 ഏപ്രിൽ-മെയി മാസങ്ങളിലായി തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് നടക്കുമെന്ന് പ്രഖ്യാപിക്കുകയുണ്ടായി . മാർച്ച് ഏപ്രിൽ മാസങ്ങളിൽ പരീക്ഷക്കാലമായതിനാൽ വോട്ടെടുപ്പ് കേന്ദ്രങ്ങൾ ലഭ്യമാകുന്നതിനുള്ള കുറവു കാരണമാണ്‌ ഫെബ്രുവരി മാർച്ച് മാസങ്ങളിൽ നടക്കേണ്ട തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് ഏപ്രിൽ മേയ് മാസങ്ങളിലേക്ക് നീട്ടിയതന്നും ഗോപാലസ്വാമി പറഞ്ഞു.
വിവാദങ്ങൾ
ബോംബെയിൽ 2008 നവംബർ 26 ന്‌ ഉണ്ടായ ഭീകരാക്രമണത്തോട് പ്രതികരിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് ശശിതരൂർ, ഇസ്രയേലി പത്രമായ ഹാരറ്റ്സിൽ എഴുതിയ "ഇന്ത്യ ഇസ്രയേലിനോട് അസൂയപ്പെടുന്നു"(പ്രൊജക്ട് സിൻഡിക്കേറ്റിൽ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ച ലേഖനം ഈ പത്രം പുന:പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ചത്)എന്ന ലേഖനം. വലിയ വിവാദമാവുകയുണ്ടായി. പാലസ്തീൻ ജനതയുടെ വികാരങ്ങളേ മുറിവേൽപ്പിക്കുന്നതാണ്‌ ഈ ലേഖനം എന്ന് ആരോപണം ഉയർന്നു. തിരുവനന്തപുരം ലോകസഭ തിരെഞ്ഞെടുപ്പിൽ ശശി തരൂരിനെതിരെ ഈ ലേഖനം വലിയൊരു പ്രചരണായുധമായിരുന്നു.
- 2008 ഡിസംബറിൽ കൊച്ചിയിൽ ഫെഡറൽ ബാങ്ക് സംഘടിപ്പിച്ച കെപി ഹോർമിസ് അനുസ്മരണ പരിപാടിയിൽ പങ്കെടുത്ത ശശി തരൂർ ചടങ്ങിന്റെ അവസാനം ദേശീയഗാനം ആലപിക്കുമ്പോൾ അമേരിക്കൻ മാതൃകയിൽ കൈ നെഞ്ചോടു ചേർത്തു പിടിക്കണമെന്നു നിർദേശിച്ചത് ദേശീയ ഗാനത്തോടുള്ള അവഹേളനമാണെന്ന ആരോപിച്ചു എറണാകുളം അഡീഷണൽ സിജെഎം കോടതിയിൽ ഹരജി നൽകുകയും പിന്നീട് തരൂരിന് കോടതി ജാമ്യം നൽകുകയും ചെയ്തു.
- കേന്ദ്ര മന്ത്രിയായി ചുമതലയേറ്റതിന്‌ ശേഷം മൂന്നു മാസം ഔദ്യോഗിക വസതിക്ക് പകരം ദൽഹിയിലെ പഞ്ചനക്ഷത്ര ഹോട്ടലിൽ താമസിക്കുകയും ഇത് വിവാദമായതിനെ തുടർന്ന് കോണ്ഗ്രസ് നേതൃത്വം ഇടപെട്ട് സംസ്ഥാന ഭവനുകളിലേക്ക്‌ മാറാൻ നിർദേശം നൽകുകയും ചെയ്തു.
- ചെലവു ചുരുക്കൽ നടപടികളുടെ ഭാഗമായി സോണിയാ ഗാന്ധി യാത്രാവിമാനത്തിലും രാഹുൽ ഗാന്ധി ട്രെയിനിലും സഞ്ചരിച്ച സാഹചര്യത്തിൽ, ട്വിറ്റർ നെറ്റ്‌വർക്കിൽ ഒരു ചോദ്യത്തിനു നൽകിയ മറുപടിയിൽ ഇക്കോണമി ക്ലാസിനെ കാലിത്തൊഴുത്ത്‌ എന്ന തരൂരിന്റെ പരാമർശം അപമാനകരമായെന്നാണു കോൺഗ്രസ് പാർട്ടിക്കുള്ളിലെതന്നെ വിലയിരുത്തൽ ഉണ്ടായി.
- 2010 ഫിബ്രവരിയിൽ പ്രധാനമന്ത്രിയോടൊപ്പം സൗദിയിൽ നടത്തിയ സന്ദർശനവേളയിൽ സൗദിയിലെ ഇന്ത്യൻ അംബാസഡർ റിയാദിൽ നൽകിയ വിരുന്നിൽ ഇന്ത്യ-പാക്ക് ചർച്ചയിൽ സൗദിയും പങ്കാളിയാവണമെന്ന് തരൂർ നടത്തിയ പരാമർശം വീണ്ടും വിവാദമായി.
- കൊച്ചി ഐ.പി.എല്ലിന്റെ ഉടമസ്ഥരായ റോൺഡിവൂ കൺസോർഷ്യത്തിന്റെ സൗജന്യ ഓഹരികളിൽ 19 ശതമാനം (ഏകദേശം 70 കോടി രൂപ) തരൂരുമായി അടുത്ത ബന്ധമുള്ള സുനന്ദ പുഷ്‌കറിന് വിയർപ്പ് ഓഹരി എന്ന നിലയിൽ നൽകിയെന്ന ഐപിഎൽ ചെയർമാൻ ലളിത് മോദിയുടെ വെളിപ്പെടുത്തൽ ഇന്ത്യൻ രാഷ്ട്രീയത്തിലും ക്രിക്കറ്റ് മേഖലയിലും വീണ്ടും വിവാദ വിഷയമായി. പ്രധാനമന്ത്രി ഡോ. മൻമോഹൻസിങ്ങിന്റെ കടുത്ത നിലപാടും രാജിക്കുവേണ്ടിയുള്ള പ്രതിപക്ഷത്തിന്റെ മുറവിളിയും തരൂരിനെ കേന്ദ്രമന്ത്രി സ്ഥാനം രാജി വെക്കുന്നതിലേക്ക് നയിച്ചു.
- കോമൺവെൽത്ത് ഗെയിംസിന്റെ കൺസൾട്ടന്റ് എന്ന നിലയിൽ വൻ തുക കൈപ്പറ്റിയതായി ആക്ഷേപമുയർന്നു.
Livin’
With & Lovin’ Shashi Tharoor
We meet
the charming lady at her place. Dressed in natty jeans, shirt and high leather
boots, with a poncho thrown over her shirt, Sunanda comes across as an amiable
person. She is all set to catch a flight
to Mumbai with husband Shashi. Just the mention of his name brings a twinkle to
her eyes.Blushing charmingly, Sunanda admits that their love is still palpable
and the fair Kashmiri beauty insists, “Each day with Shashi seems like a new
day for me, and I’m lovin’ it. This one year has restored my faith in the
institution of marriage. I’m very happy because life’s been wonderful.” When
Sunanda married Shashi in August 2010, it raised a lot of eyebrows, but it
looks like the third marriage for both of them has resulted in a successful
bond.
We ask her whether too much travelling
stresses her out. Pat comes the reply, “I enjoy being with Shashi. And because
I am with him most of the time, there is a lot of his influence on me. I love
seeing him speak at lectures, launches, seminars et al. Yes, life is hectic
with Shashi. But otherwise, I am a complete home bird.” She adds, “I have not
been focussing on the professional front for a year because I’ve been
concentrating more on being a wife and juggling being a long distance mother.
But now I’m planning to tone down a little bit.”
And
how does she cope with the attention her handsome husband gets? “Women do
gush over him, but not in an obscene way. Often women ask me if I feel insecure
having a good-looking husband. I always reply that I feel secure in my skin and
both of us are very secure about each other, so there’s no question of being
insecure,” says Sunanda.
Marriage
with Shashi has brought about a lot of changes in Sunanda’s lifestyle. “I
haven’t changed as a person but the biggest change in my life is wearing
traditional attire - saris and salwar kameezes. I have always loved my western
wear - jeans, trousers and skirts. But today, I wear traditional clothes
because Shashi likes it. He hates me in jeans. If it pleases him to see
me in traditional wear, I am happy to sport it,” smiles Sunanda.
Nostalgically, she reminisces, “I never
behaved like a girl when I was young. I was a tomboy as I grew up with boys.
People used to mistake me for a boy. Dressing up was never my priority while
growing up.” Incidentally, Sunanda was recently voted by a magazine as being
one of the most stylish women in the country. Says she, “I don’t think I am stylish. I don’t have a style statement. I
just go with the flow of the moment. I don’t follow trends blindly. At a recent
event, I wore boots, a sari and an Armani jacket; I got so many compliments! I
am not diet conscious. I hog like a pig, I eat 40 times in a day. I have never
dieted in my life. I believe my beauty secrets come from my mother. I can say I
have good DNA.”
Political
leaning?We ask her whether she’ll ever join politics… Sunanda avers, “I am not interested in learning this kind of politics from Shashi. Maybe later, if I do enter politics, I would do something for Kashmir. I am Kashmiri; for me Kashmir is of paramount importance. I want Indians and the rest of the world to handle Kashmir in a better way. We Kashmiris feel that we are not handled properly. We are not treated as an integral part of India
കുടുംബാംഗങ്ങൾ;
- അച്ഛൻ: ചന്ദ്രൻ തരൂർ (1993 ൽ ഹൃദ്രോഗം മൂലം നിര്യാതനായി)
- അമ്മ: ലില്ലി തരൂർ
- മുൻ ഭാര്യമാർ: തിലോത്തമ (കൊൽക്കത്തക്കാരിയാണ്),ക്രിസ്റ്റ ഗിൽസ് (കാനഡ)
- മക്കൾ: ഇഷാൻ, കനിഷ്ക് (ഇരട്ടകളാണ്)
- ഭാര്യ:സുനന്ദ പുഷ്കർ.
ശശി തരൂരിന്റെ പുസ്തകങ്ങൾ
- ബുക്ലെസ് ഇൻ ബാഗ്ദാദ് ഉം, വായനയെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള മറ്റു കുറിപ്പുകളും
- നെഹ്രു - ഇന്ത്യയുടെ കണ്ടുപിടിത്തം
- കേരളം - ദൈവത്തിന്റെ സ്വന്തം നാട് (ചിത്രങ്ങൾ - എം.എഫ്. ഹുസൈൻ, വർണ്ണന - ശശി തരൂർ)
- ഇന്ത്യ - അർദ്ധരാത്രിമുതൽ അരനൂറ്റാണ്ട്
- ലഹള
- ഗ്രേറ്റ് ഇന്ത്യൻ നോവൽ
- അഞ്ചു ഡോളർ ചിരിയും മറ്റു കഥകളും
- ഷോ ബിസിനസ്
| ജനനം | 1956 മാർച്ച് 9 ലണ്ടൻ, യു.കെ. |
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| വീട് | ന്യൂഡൽഹി/തിരുവനന്തപുരം | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| വിദ്യാഭ്യാസം | St. Stephen's College, Delhi (B.A.), Tufts University (Ph.D.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ഉദ്യോഗം | എഴുത്തുകാരൻ, നയതന്ത്രജ്ഞൻ, രാഷ്ട്രീയ പ്രവർത്തക | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT DOES TRASHING SUNANDA PUSHKAR SAY ABOUT OUR
ATTITUDES TO WOMEN, ASKS SHOMA CHAUDHURY
AMIDST THE immense noise of the IPL controversy, away from public view, a woman
has been confronted with a deeply personal crisis: she can no longer recognise
herself. A massive juggernaut has rolled over her, crushed her out of shape,
and moved on without a backward glance. She has been left to cope with the
painful out-of-body experience of watching the mangled remains of who she used
to be. Left to muse, in private bewilderment, why her image and the person she
knew herself to be no longer matched.
Sunanda Pushkar, the woman in the tableau, was not hit by
some unheeding truck. She was hit by the media. As Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, the
doctor parents of the slain Aarushi, know only too well, this is not the first
time it’s happened. In its feeding frenzy for 24 /7 excitement, the media has
developed a curious way of turning fathers into murderers; women into vamps.
Facts, evidence, the line between public and private — all the good,
old-fashioned gears of journalism no longer have any place. Rash allegations
are enough. The rear-view mirrors are gone. You can now recklessly ride over
people and not look back.
Over the last two weeks then, every real and fictitious
fragment of Pushkar’s life has been dragged onto airwaves and newsprint: Men
she has and has not married; men she has and has not slept with; money she has
and has not made; jobs she has and has not done. People have spoken with
dripping scorn about her “eye-popping life”, her “insatiable ambition”, her
work with “starlets and bimbos”, her “vampire-like thirst” and her “Louis
Vuitton victimhood”. They have dissected her diaphanous saris and conjured clingy
ones she’s never worn. The general consensus has been: She isn’t enough a
girl’s girl. And for this transgression, she had to be crushed. So, overnight,
Sunanda Pushkar was transformed from a living, breathing woman with a history
of her own into a “proxy bimbette”.
What did Pushkar do to merit this public mauling? The
reasons trotted out are that Pushkar is romantically involved with former
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and has therefore been
given disproportionate sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore in the Kochi cricket team
he helped put together. One can debate the finer points of propriety about
Pushkar having equity, independently or otherwise, in a project Tharoor was
closely associated with. Prima facie, it appears there was absolutely no
exchange of money. Nor was there any misuse of public funds. In a world of
brazen corruption then, this could only count as a minor lapse in manners. The
curious thing is, the uproar over the sweat equity itself seemed misplaced.
With the same reckless disregard for fact, everyone has forgotten that the
offending Rs 70 crore does not exist as yet. Sweat equity is risky: There are
no payments upfront. If the going is good, you take the ride; if not, there’s
nothing.
So, the truth is, the reasons Pushkar has been pilloried
lie elsewhere. Imagine for a moment that instead of Pushkar some nephew of
Tharoor had been given sweat equity. Would the media have ferreted out every
last detail about his girlfriends and colour of bedsheet — imagined or real?
Pushkar says the last fortnight has been akin to a medieval witch hunt. She is
right. A deep and unthinking misogyny has underscored all the reporting on her.
Her real crime is that she is an attractive 46-year old widow, who is bright,
vivacious and hot — in the way only those women can be, who have a comfortable
relationship with themselves; who understand that beauty does not preclude one
from being kind; or protect one from sorrow. If the media had wanted to try the
two for financial impropriety, it should have stuck to doing that. Instead, all
of it has become an ugly spectacle about a society trying to decide what women
are allowed and not allowed to be. Ambition, sass, and self-assured sexiness
are clearly high on the list of India’s penal code for women. This is why
Pushkar has been asked by “well-wishers” to stay out of view. This is why she’s
in the process of being tamed for Indian public life. The story of how Sunanda
Pushkar has been treated then is not the story of just one woman: it is a parable
about the society we are.
There are so many versions of your life floating in the
media, would you like to put the facts on record first.
I don’t really want to. My son and parents have already suffered enough on this. How many times I got married, who I dated — what does any of that have to do with the IPL?
That’s true, but unfortunately the absence of facts has
allowed everyone to maul your image. There’ve been reports that you divorced
your first husband Sanjay Raina because you fell in love with his friend Sujit
Menon. Also that Sujit committed suicide because he was in financial trouble.
Even if all this were true, it still wouldn’t make you a bad person, but the
key thing is to establish how much is truth, how much fiction.
(Sighs) You are right. It’s probably important to set the record straight. My first marriage was a very dark period in my life. Everyone’s saying Sanjay Raina divorced me, but that’s not true, I divorced him. It was a very painful relationship but I don’t want to go into that. It’s over; he’s moved on, I’ve moved on. I was 19 when I met him and very innocent. My dad was in the army and I had a very protected childhood. I was always sorry for the underdog. My family and friends used to teasingly call me Mother Teresa. I was helping flood victims in Ambala in grade six. When I was in Jesus and Mary Convent, I used to work with abandoned and physically challenged children at an ashram. There was a blind and spastic kid there who was particularly attached to me. No one wanted him because he wasn’t very nice looking, but I used to bathe and feed him. Curiously, many people spoke badly of Sanjay, saying he was strange. Maybe in the beginning that is what drew me more to him.
But the marriage was a big mistake. I was totally
unprepared for the worst. ‘The media said, why should the Kochi team pick me?
As a woman am I not good enough?’ Soon after we got engaged I told my father I
wanted to break it off. I had realised Sanjay and I were very mismatched but my
father wouldn’t listen. For Kashmiri Pandits, if you got engaged, you had to
marry; we’d never had a broken marriage in the family. Mine fell apart within
days. I had a really tough time getting a divorce in Delhi. It was a very
lonely time. My parents didn’t want me to divorce even though they knew what
was going on. Looking back, I understand them now, but I felt very abandoned
then.
The truth is Sujit rescued me. He gave me the strength,
as a friend, to quit a very painful marriage. But he was dating another woman;
I was just a friend. I got my divorce in 1988 and went off to Dubai in 1989. I
married Sujit in 1991; my son Shivy was born in November 1992. If I had left
Sanjay over Sujit, why would I have waited that long to marry him?
What about Sujit’s death? That has been turned into
something very mysterious as well.
Yes, my son has had a really rough time dealing with
those reports. But my husband died in an accident in Karol Bagh in March 1997.
I can show you the death certificate. I had a really harrowing time finding the
body and had to go from morgue to morgue searching for it. Again, it was a very
dark time. Sujit was a financial consultant and he had run into some financial
trouble. I disagreed with many of his business decisions at the time and after
his death I got several threatening calls from his creditors. But that was less
important to me than the fact that after his death, Shivy suddenly stopped
talking. It was very strange, he probably got scared. He was barely four. There
was so much to do — papers and fresh visas to be sorted, debts to pay. So I
left him with my sister-in-law and, later, my parents for a few months. I keep
asking them, someone tell me what happened to him because when I went to pick
up my son, he had stopped talking. I took him to Dubai but in those days there
was no concept of speech therapy there. I began to look for the best affordable
health care and that’s how I hit upon Canada. I moved there to help my son. I
had been doing pretty well at work, but I didn’t have that much money to spare.
I was supporting my parents, supporting my brother through engineering college,
trying to pay off Sujit’s debts.
Why did you need to support your parents financially?
Everyone says your family was very wealthy.
Yes, we were wealthy till the trouble began in Kashmir in 1989. We had orchards and a lot of land. But after ‘89, my family suffered like everyone else. Luckily, they were wealthy enough that they didn’t have to go live in a tent. But I did help them financially to find their feet again. They couldn’t afford to put their son through college — you know you have those donations and capitation fees. I did all that.
Part of the muck being thrown at you for having sweat
equity in the Kochi team is that you don’t have professional standing that
merits it, so you must be a front for Shashi Tharoor. How do you respond to
this?
I cannot tell you how insulted I feel. I’ve been fiercely independent and self-reliant all my life. And I’ve always been proud that I have made it alone — on my own terms — in a man’s world. And here, in one minute, without bothering to find out any facts the media just turned me into a slut, into some kind of brainless eye candy! I don’t know why people find it so hard to understand this — I really don’t care about money in that grasping way. Yet, please don’t misunderstand me. I enjoy making money, I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a woman being ambitious. I like cars and watches but I don’t need any man to get anything for me. My kick is to buy it myself. I like to earn my own keep. I’d be very happy to set up home with a man I loved, but I would not marry a man just because he can buy me diamonds. I’m not judgmental about women who do that, I’m just saying I wouldn’t. So when people say I got into all this as a front for Shashi, chasing influence and money, it savages my soul. What else can I say?
The media has said, for Rs 70 crore, the Kochi team could
have hired any foreign marketing firm, why would they pick me? Forget that no
one in India seems to have understood the basics about sweat equity — there is
simply no 70 crore on the table, in fact not one paisa has changed hands so
far, and there will be no profits for years to pay anybody — but what is this
attitude? As a woman I am not good enough? Some foreigner can do better than an
Indian? And we call ourselves a superpower? Is this 21st century India or the
British Raj?
Could you then run us through your career graph a bit ?
When I came to Dubai for the first time I worked in tourism. I had ideas about dhow cruises and dune dinners — much before Emirates Holidays even existed. Our accounts included Philippines airlines, Romanian airlines, Brazilian airlines — so I had lots of corporate clients. After I married Sujit, I got into events. Someone reported that all my shows made losses. That hurt. Sujit and I did only one event together which went badly — a Mammooty show which people have been writing all kinds of nonsense about. But apart from that I don’t think I did any events that made a loss.
I started my own company called Expressions with
four or five people. We began to do many model shows for product launches.
Everyone does it now, but it was a complete trendsetter then. I did 13 shows
with Hemant Trivedi, shows with Rhea Pillai, Vikram Phadnis, Aishwarya Rai.
When the Gulf War started, we did big fund raisers for the ‘We love Kuwait’
campaign.
After a while I got a great offer from an ad agency
called Bozell Prime. I handled many big campaigns for them — Wella, Hersheys,
Chrysler cars. I did big multi-million dollar events for Modern
Pharmaceuticals. That was the most beautiful time of my life. But after Sujit
died, I gave up Bozell for Shivy. I didn’t want a baby-sitter. He had gone into
a complete shell and I was frightened for him and wanted to be there for him.
So that last year in Dubai before I went to Canada, I worked with Ravissant.
In Canada, I had to start from scratch. I’d literally
gone there with a suitcase and my child. But you know, Shoma, I have never
taken my resume and looked for a job.I have always felt I can carve a niche for
myself on my own terms. I’ve always been an entrepreneur that way. So for a
while, I did many odds and ends. Then some friends in New York — two doctors
who are still among my closest family friends — suggested I get into the IT
sector which had just begun to boom. Everyone was looking for computer engineers
from India, so we tied up with companies like Compaq and head-hunted in India
for them.
After a while a friend in San Francisco alerted me that a
company called Valley Resources wanted a partner. I told them I had no money to
invest but they still wanted me. So, talk about sweat equity — (laughs)
— that was my first sweat equity! It was a lot of fun and we did mighty well
and made good money. I put Shivy in a private school; I bought ourselves a
house; I got a BMW. And I did all this from the basement of my house. And
through all that, I never used babysitters. I’m proud of bringing up my son by
myself. Many of my friends across the world who knew me at that time are really
disheartened and outraged by the way I am being portrayed in the media.
The press has been saying you are a beautician, a
spa-owner, a mystery woman from Dubai — where did they get all that from?
Can you imagine! I have no idea where they got it! These reports were meant to deride me. I don’t even feel there’s anything derogatory about being a beautician — it’s just that it’s completely not true! I ran a small jewellery shop for a while, but while they were trying to ferret fictitious details about my life, they didn’t even come across that!
You know, all through my life, at different phases,
things have fallen apart and each time I have just picked myself up and put the
pieces back. I am a very positive person: I always say, this too shall pass. I
am a great believer in Shiva and the idea of karma, so I never question and
complain and ask why is this happening to me. I always tell myself that things
happen to you so that you can learn from it. But this has been the biggest test
I have ever faced.
We’ll come back to the way the press has reported on you
and what impact that’s had on you; and what it says about attitudes to women in
India. But, first, could you finish telling us about your professional life.
Just as our IT business was booming, 9/11 happened. This hit us bad and we had to shut shop. There was four months of anxiety and no work. We were cleaned out financially. That’s when I got into Emotional Intelligence. It was the latest thing in Canada those days. I did a course and joined a company called Noble House International. We started something called Human Potential Reengineering. [sighs] We did lots of programmes for banks like Royal Bank of Canada and ABN Amro in Miami, Amsterdam and Geneva. It was fun but I was not earning enough.
Then in 2004, Best Homes offered to send me to Dubai to
set up their operations there in real estate. If I think about it, real estate
runs in my blood. More than buying and selling, I love developing properties. I
love the blueprint stage, the planning and the zoning. So I came back to Dubai
in August 2004 as general manager of Best Homes and worked on a big project
with them.
Dubai had changed completely. My friends had all become
rich and powerful; there was a completely different buzz. But Shivy was not
very happy and I was just planning to go back to Canada and start again, when I
was offered a job by Mohamad-bin-Ghalib of Tecom to work on an International
Media Production Free Zone. This was one of the most exciting projects I’ve
ever worked on. We had to plan publishing zones, convention centres, hotels,
schools and hospitals over 44 million square feet of land. Then I was offered a
position that the company usually only gives to locals — I had to sell land to
Gulf nationals. Everyone thought I’d fail because I didn’t know Arabic. But as
one of my bosses said about me, “She can sell sand to the Arabs and ice to the
Eskimos!”
Were you a sales manager there? Some press reports have
been saying that you actually live — to use their words — in a ‘low-class
ghetto’ in Dubai and that Shashi was a leg up for you socially and financially.
How would you speak of yourself? As middle- class, well-to-do, very well-to-do?
I think I’m pretty well to do. I drive a Range Rover. My son has a driver and a Ford. I live in a decent apartment because I don’t want to live in a villa and have the headache of a garden and stuff because there’s just the two of us. I have a cook and a domestic help. I own two 3-bedroom apartments in Jumeirah Palm. I also own a beachside apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence, and I have two apartments in Executive Towers. I only live in this rented apartment because it’s close to Shivy’s school and his friends live around here. I also have my house in Canada and some land in Jammu. So I’m pretty alright, I think. I’m pretty alright. [laughs]
That’s an understatement.
Yeah, I guess, I’m okay. The part I feel really good about is that I’ve done it all on my own. The only thing they’ve got right about me is that I was a sales manager at Tecom. What they don’t get is that this suited my entrepreneurial spirit just fine because it allowed me to get a commission over my salary.
Of all the kite flying about you in the media then, what
aspect has really upset you the most? Oh God, I can so tell you that! It’s been
like a medieval witch hunt! It’s been so misogynistic. The bizarre part is, I
think it’s not even just to do with my being a woman, it’s to do with my being
an attractive woman. That’s what makes it even more disgusting. That’s what
really makes me sick to the core of my being. That, to so many people in this
society, if you are attractive you are immediately deemed to be a loose woman.
What have they not said about me! I am supposed to be
married to some automobile businessman in Delhi; my second husband is supposed
to have committed suicide; I am supposed to have slept with god knows how many
men, and I am supposed to be a tart.
I have always prioritised Shivy because he is the most
important thing in my life and I have always been proud that I had made it
alone, on my own terms, in a man’s world, and in one minute, without checking
on any facts, they have just reduced me to a slut. Just because I am an
attractive working woman in a man’s world.
All my women friends in Dubai — women from all across the
world, Serbia, England, America, Canada — are so upset. They are furious! As
one of them said, we thought India is going to be a world power, but how can
they be when their attitudes to women are so warped!
I have realised that women have made some inroads into
politics in India, but in business? God forbid, you want to be feminine and
wear nice saris or dresses into a boardroom — that’s totally not allowed. I saw
a Hindi film called Corporate — it disgusted me. A woman must sleep
around with someone to get business, she can’t get it otherwise? She must
utilise her body and only then her brain will function. Suddenly — boom! — her
brain is functioning because men are sleeping with her!
I have a wonderful, grown-up son — a son who says that
whenever he thinks of duty and integrity and honesty, he thinks of his mother.
I want to ask all these people in the media, if I was sleeping around, when did
I have the time to bring up my child?
Do you know that there was a report that said I went to
Jitin Prasada’s wedding wearing a bright-red, clingy, seethrough sari with a
low cut blouse and some socialite is supposed to have sniggered that this was
just not the “Congress code”. I wasn’t even in Delhi for Jitin’s wedding. I
went to his reception huddled inside a black sari and shawl because I was so
cold. How much can the media lie?
There’s another thing I want to clarify. They are saying
I have given up my shares to save Shashi Tharoor. Now, I’m not even supposed to
have that much agency of my own! I DID NOT give it up for Shashi Tharoor. I
gave it up for exactly the reason that I said in my statement: I have no enthusiasm
to work on this anymore. You tell me, Shoma, after all that has happened would
you have the enthusiasm to work with the IPL? I might still do stuff for
them, as I said, because I love Kerala — but how can they turn around and
crucify me for something I am giving up in disgust? One BJP man said that the
fact I am giving it up is further proof of my corruption. I mean how much more
perverse and bewildering can things get? And now I have someone impersonating
me on Facebook when I don’t have either a Twitter or Facebook account!
I have to say the conjecturing about you has been
shameful.
(Starting to cry) I have always thought of myself as a kind, proud, honest and ethical person. I can’t recognise what they have turned me into publicly. In my family, everyone calls me ‘Didi’ — even my father — because I am the person everyone turns to for help. I was always the ‘boy’ in the family. I never even had a doll as a child. So even now, though this is my worst fall, I am not asking why all of this has happened to me. I am sure there is a larger lesson to be learnt and I am sure I am going to grow from this. And mark my words, I will grow, I will come out of this a bigger and better person. I can feel it in my bones. I’m sure I’ve made mistakes in my life; I’m just a regular human being. But I keep telling myself, I must be a good person because, god knows, I have brought up a good child.
Let’s talk about Shashi Tharoor and the IPL. How did you
meet? How did the IPL thing come about? What is the sweat equity everyone is in
a tizzy about?
I don’t really want to talk about Shashi because everything I say will have some repercussion for him. He is a public figure, I am not. But I met him about two years ago through a friend called Sunny Varkey, and we got along immediately. We are certainly close now, but that closeness only developed less than five months ago. I am very proud to know him because, most of all, he is a good and honest man.
As far as the IPL goes, again the media has twisted my
words. I have known Karim and Ali Murani since 1998, since we were all in the
events business. Over the years they have become close friends. When they took
on KKR, I was generally throwing ideas at them about how they should market and
package the team. Ali liked my ideas enough to ask me to come down to Bombay to
discuss working for them — the Muranis, not KKR itself. The conversation was
serious enough for me to fly down to Mumbai, but Shivy was still in school so
we all just let it slide. But that’s how I first got to know about the IPL.
As far as the sweat equity for the Kochi team goes, I am
genuinely bewildered by the allegations of corruption. I did agree to offer my
skills as a marketing consultant. I have a knack for it. I also helped them
raise a lot of money. But there’s been absolutely no exchange of money between
us. I don’t even have the shares. It’s more like a promissory note with
absolutely no guarantee that the shares will amount to anything. People are
calling me and saying why did you give up the Rs 70 crore? What Rs 70 crore?
It’s not there! I haven’t earned it as yet, there’s no surety I ever will.
People have been throwing up fantastical numbers — what no one seems to
understand is that all of it is notional. I am told Mumbai Indians made a loss
of 40 odd crore last season, so there’s a huge risk involved. There’s no money
upfront.
And again, why are they accusing me of being a proxy for
Shashi? That’s so insulting. Can’t I make my own money? He has not been corrupt
for so many years — for which I am proud to be his friend — why would he be
corrupt now? Just look around you in India and see the corruption — in
government, in industry, in every crevice of public life and they call this
corruption! Indians couldn’t handle a man who is not corrupt so you tainted him
and literally made him look corrupt so that he had to leave government and not
embarrass his party! [laughs]
My faith in India is so shaken. Shashi and others keep
telling me not to say this, but I don’t know Shoma — why shouldn’t I say it? I
am shocked at the way events unfurled. It had no basis in truth. There was no
intention of even getting to the truth. Why has the media taken this beyond the
realm of reality. I can’t understand it!
There were three people in politics that really created
hope for millions of Indians across the world that even clean men can join
politics — Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor. I know that when
Shashi entered politics, many Indians felt, oh, if he can, even we can.
Otherwise Indian politics was always thought of as such a dirty game. But
Shashi has been hounded out for now — ironically — for not being dirty enough. In
just the cricket scene I know how much corruption is floating about, but the
big powerful men will get away, and Shashi has been made a sacrifice. Was
Shashi given a fair hearing? The media made sure he couldn’t get one. As I
said, it was a medieval witch hunt in every way.
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