KEEPS AN OPEN HOUSE, LISTENS TO MUSIC
As a child, Hardeep Singh Puri, now the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, was bullied in school in Germany. Being a Sikh, he had long hair and was often teased about this. His classmates, all foreigners, said he looked like a girl. It was a German woman who told him to hit back: “Don’t get bullied; bully them instead”, Puri said recalling her advice. Puri learnt to stand up to bullies.
Years later as India’s ambassador to the United Nations, he was detained at an airport in the US for refusing to remove his turban during the security check: “I agreed to comply with the procedure but did not allow them to touch my turban,” Puri said.
Therefore, for a devout Sikh like him, to be handpicked to go to Pakistan for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartar- pur corridor is indeed a blessing. “As a Sikh, I feel privileged to go and offer prayers at Guru Sahib’s final resting place. I don’t know what was in the mind of the cartographer when he drew the line between the two countries but I think the gurdwara should have been on this side of the border,” he said. The corridor involves a road link for Sikh pilgrims to visit the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan.
Puri concurs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s view of the corridor initiative being anchored in hope “like the fall of the Berlin Wall,” he said. “There can be goodwill but if friends on the other side persist with policies where they stand exposed, then the initiative would be undone. It takes two to tango”.
As someone who has spent nearly 40 years in the Foreign Service, Puri said he has “lived life dangerously”. In 1987, he met the LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and persuaded him to come to New Delhi and understand the peace pact that India and Sri Lanka were going to sign to end the ethnic strife. “I met him several times,” said Puri. “When we were flying him from Jaffna to New Delhi he was nervous and told me that someday his deeds will catch up with him”.
Puri does nothing without reason, even if it is catching a movie. He prefers watching shows at home on Netflix even though he needs help to log on. But then at home he is spoilt for choice. His wife Lakshmi gave up her career in the Foreign Service after her husband was sworn in as minister; she runs a dream home and serves elaborate meals on handcrafted silver.
The house that they moved into was earlier occupied by a BJP MP who was heavily into religion. The Puris, with their enviable collection of priceless carpets, marble and brass statues, antiques, paintings, Bohemian crystal and exquisite pieces of furniture, gave it a face-lift.
Even though Puri is averse to parties and small talk, both he and Lakshmi enter- tain almost every day: close friends, colleagues or people from his constituency. “Political entertaining,” is how Puri puts it, about keeping an open house. Left to himself, Puri would rather hit the gym or listen to music: bhajans instead of Pink Floyd as age catches up.
THE PURIS, WITH THEIR ENVIABLE COLLECTION OF PRICELESS CARPETS, ANTIQUES AND EXQUISITE PIECES OF FURNITURE, GAVE THEIR HOME A FACE-LIFT.