INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Lakshmi Puri came to Kathmandu for the first time in 1955 as a three-year-old with her parents
She recalls learning dance and Nepali the (language), while also soaking in the rich Nepali heritage
She was here for the second time in 1998, and her recent visit - to the Kalinga Literary Festival Kathmandu 2024 - was her third detour here
This time she was accompanied by her successful legacy - an experience of working for 28 years with the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) as a
She represented India in different countries including Japan, and Sri Lanka
She was in Geneva doing multilateral work with the Indian mission dealing with the UN
She was the ambassador to Hungary, and Bosnia-Herzegovina
After that she joined the UN, where she remained for 15 years - as Director of the flagship International Trade Division of UNCTAD, later as
Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, and as the founding Deputy Executive Director of UN WOMEN
The recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Prize for Human Rights, Puri has contributed to UN's major projects on peace and security,
sustainable development, climate change, human rights, and humanitarian action.The multi-faceted personality walked down the memory lane
with Sharada Adhikari as she shared vignettes of her childhood days here while also talking about her debut novel Swallowing the Sun and the
Naari Shakti (woman/female power) that she believes in.
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The interview
has been edited for brevity and clarity
Excerpts from the interview:How did it feel to be back in Kathmandu after nearly 25 years?
It was very emotional
When I was an Indian diplomat, I was in charge of multilateral and economic relations and we were trying to form a grouping of India, Nepal,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh
I was in Kathmandu for that in 1998
I haven't been here since
But over the years, I've had wonderful friends amongst Nepali diplomats and ambassadors
So, I got to meet all of them, but that is one part of the story.The other part is about my parents - I came to Nepal as a little girl,
My father was a legal advisor to king Tribhuvan and then king Mahendra for seven years
He drafted the constitution at that time and contributed to laying the foundation for the Nepali legal system
Many people have told me he was very popular with the Nepalis
Nobody wanted him to leave
Normally, you go to a place, you're there for three years
But the Nepali government kept asking the Indian government to extend his stay
That's how he stayed on for seven years.I began my academic education here and we lived in what used to be one of the palaces of Pashupati
Rana - the building in Jawalakhel, which is now the national academy of administration (Nepal Administrative Staff College)
I visited that place, and also my school, St Mary's
It had just opened around the time when I was about five years old.I also visited the Pashupatinath Temple, Patan ..
and memories of my childhood with my parents came back.Has Kathmandu inspired Swallowing the Sun?The inspiration is my father and mother
They spent seven precious years dedicated to Nepal and Kathmandu, and it is something wonderful
So, in that sense there is inspiration; but Kathmandu as a place does not figure in the novel
It's going to feature in my next novel.There are so many connections between Gwalior (India) and Nepal, to the royal families
My eldest sister was married to a Nepali and has written one of the path-breaking books on Nepali monarchy
One of my cousins in Gwalior was married to a Rana girl
So there are lots of familial inter-linkages
That Gwalior family is referred to in the book
In that sense, indirectly, there is a very strong Nepal flavour and connection in the book.Do you remember your childhood here?I remember
the beautiful and fragrant rukh kamal tree (magnolia)
I have vivid memories of waking up to the roar of lions because the zoo seemed quite close then
I remember going to the Pashupatinath Temple, the Bagmati River, trips to Chandragiri hills to get a view of the mountains, Everest and all
I have memories of how Nepalis celebrated the different Hindu festivals.There used to be so many snakes everywhere
Once, my two-year-old nephew and I (seven) were playing with a ball in the garden
I left him for a little while to pick up the ball
And you know what? A snake was slithering around him
But because he was a baby, he was not disturbed at all
I couldn't utter a word, my mouth was open but no sound came out
Only when the snake slithered away did I scream
At that time I think there were flying snakes too.
Lakshmi Puri (sitting on the left of front
row) with her dance teacher Sushila Koirla, king Mahendra, queen Ratna and BP Koirala
Photos: Courtesy Lakshmi Puri
How do you remember the king, queen and BP Koirala?There was the Durbar Hall in
our house where we hosted dinner parties to which the king and queen came
They seemed like distant figures, but pleasant
Sushila Koirala was someone who I was in constant contact with as my dance teacher
But BP Koirala was someone who my father and mother met
I just have a memory of him being a very literary person
He was a very well-spoken and gentle person
My father was very fond of him and got along very well with him.How did you get into dancing?My mother was very culturally oriented and she
believed her daughters must not only be academically oriented but also have a multi-faceted personality
So, I took vocal lessons in Nepal
I also started learning the Manipuri dance with Sushila Koirala
I went on to do Bharatnatyam in a full-fledged way
The foundation for dance was laid here.How do you remember Sushila Koirala?We used to idolise and worship her
She was a wonderful teacher and a warm person
One immediately felt attracted to her
As a teacher she was strict, but not unpleasant
She made it interesting, she inculcated the love of dance in me, and it stayed with me
She was strict to give me the discipline of dance without taking away the joy.What did you like the most when you were in Kathmandu for the
first time?I loved the setting itself where we lived, the gardens, and the aloobakhara (plum)
I loved this ambience of bhakti (devotion), the architecture, the ancient art, the brass statutes.My father was quite a collector and picked
up some very beautiful murtis, which I still have
To stay in a heritage city was something else
But those were the days when there was only one paved road, in front of the palace.These were very early days in Nepal's development
We sort of got used to it
And of course, the Himalayas, the beauty of that is very dear to me
Then the songs and dance, the music of Nepal always stayed with me.
Puri (centre) while taking
part in a Sanskrit play of Santha Rama Rao in the garden of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu
Photos: Courtesy Lakshmi Puri
Could you describe your introduction to the Nepali language?I knew (spoke) only
Nepali till I was nine years old
It was only when I came back to India to go to school that my mother appointed a panditji to teach us Hindi.This time when I came to
Kathmandu I could understand 85 per cent of what was being said in Nepali
I can't speak Nepali anymore, but I can understand
Back in the days, I also used to act in Nepali folk plays.How was your impression of Kathmandu this time?I was there when Nepal didn't have
It was very charming in its own way
It had palaces, lovely houses, but also lots of greenery
What struck me about Kathmandu in particular is how it has grown and expanded as an urban space
It is in the nature of evolution of cities that they get built up
But the old charm also remains
To see temples and stupas in every street corner is so beautiful
It makes one feel like being in a sacred space.You have said your parents and your grandfather have inspired Swallowing the Sun
Can you share how they impacted you and the novel?I am very proud to be the daughter and the granddaughter of people who were feminist, who
believed in the power of women
One of the great things of being in Kathmandu is that this is the Shakti Bhumi (land of power)
My parents believed in Naari Shakti and they empowered themselves and us as we grew up.This novel traces the journey of my mother
It begins with a 11-year-old girl in a village in Maharashtra, India - her father decides that she and her sister will defy convention, and
This is going against child marriage, and child motherhood, which still are a problem both in Nepal and India
He defied that 100 years ago and said his daughters will go to an orphanage boarding school in Indore
From there the journey of empowerment begins.The novel is set against the tumult and excitement of the (Indian) freedom movement and how
It's also an epic love story - of my parents
This is fiction but it is very much inspired by their real life love story.There were some 148 love letters that I found of my parents
I have run upon those letters and some of them are included in the in the novel.My father was very poetic and I have inherited that poetic
nature of his.It is a novel about young people, for young people, and by young people
I have said it is very much about women's empowerment, but also that women can be and do anything
I show how women, as much as young men, ordinary women and ordinary men were heroes and sheroes of the freedom movement
Today as much as then, they can contribute to nation building
They should not think that somebody else will do it
So it's very much a message on that.Why should Nepalis read your novel?It is dedicated to someone who loved Nepal - my father and mother
I also have such a close bond with Nepal
Otherwise also, the novel is a bestseller and has been critically acclaimed.What motivated you to debut as a novelist?This was something
that was swirling in my mind for decades because this story of my parents and their extraordinary lives was waiting to be written
I had started writing this novel when I was the ambassador in Budapest from 1999 to 2002
I wrote 100 pages and had a mental block
Then I told myself, 'I'm very busy with my children, my work'; somehow I kept postponing, till I returned to India 2018
My husband joined the government, I got busy with other things - settling down, helping my husband
I only got to write this when COVID-19 happened
I sat down and wrote for eight to 10 hours every day in 2020 and 2021 and finished the novel of 270,000 words by June of 2021
It was published in January this year as it took another two years to find a publisher.Both my parents were very literary people
Although they did not write books, they loved reading, spoke in very literary language
So, I grew up loving literature and wanting to write, and here was the story waiting to be written.
At Kalinga Literary Festival Kathmandu 2024
Photos: Courtesy Lakshmi Puri
How do you look back on your career?I have been very privileged
It was my father who made me take a U-turn and join diplomacy
I was the youngest entrant to join the Indian Foreign Service
I was 21, 22 after joining.I look back with much satisfaction and gratitude that they gave me this opportunity to serve and represent my
country in the best way that I could and also to convey the civilisational values that India represents.As a woman and a feminist, my
greatest joy was creating and building up this global organisation, UN Women.In one of your interviews you have said that during the initial
days of UN Women, you all used to say 'we need to preach the religion of gender equality'
What is this religion?In Hinduism we have women goddesses, and we worship them
But when we actually look at women, we don't treat them as equal, some rather tend to look at women as the children of a lesser goddess
That dichotomy has to change
We have to recognise and reinterpret, and correctly interpret our respective religions to bring out the women-empowering, women-respecting
In my novel I have drawn upon those elements
For instance, the Manusmriti says women should not be treated well, and that she must be under the rule of the father when she's a child and
a girl, and she must be ruled by her husband when she's married, and then by son when she becomes a widow
But Manu also says, 'Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devata' (divinity blossoms there where women are honoured)
We have to take that part as a new religion not the negative part which justifies violence, and discrimination against women
So, I meant we have to create a culture and religion of gender equality.How would you suggest we understand the concept of feminism in the
modern world?For India and Nepal, I would say Naari Shakti, not feminism, because there might be an association with the western
It is not about putting men down, not about disrespecting mothers or housewives
Some of these elements are what causes some people to think, 'Oh, feminism is not for me'.Gloria Steinem, who's a shero for me, and one of
the pioneers of the feminist movement, described feminism very well: 'A feminist is someone who believes in the equality and humanity of
So we are not trying to say that women are superior to men or men are superior to women
And they are both human beings
How would you treat one human being differently from another? That is the idea of equality, gender equality and women's empowerment
Naari Shakti encapsulates that idea.Anything else you would like to add?I would like to emphasise that the ties between India and Nepal -
the cultural, the civilisational, the people-to-people kinship ties, are indissoluble
Even if geopolitical forces want to do it, or political expediency dictates, they cannot be dissolved
It is an umbilical cord that is alive, that is still connected and still living
We should not allow any of the other things in any way affect this very special relationship
We have such a multi-coloured, many-splendoured relationship, and this must be built up
We should get politics to follow this path rather than allow it to derail or dilute this relationship.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com
