You can take the suit and tie off a man, but you can’t really get the man to shed the suit.
Confusing? Not really.
Here’s why: When I set up this interview with the High Commissioner of India, I insisted on meeting him at home, on a weekend. I didn’t want the corporate side of Dr S. Jaishankar, I wanted to meet the person behind the designation.
But when we got to chatting over coffee and mithai at his residence off Holland Road a fortnight ago, I realised the man doesn't shed his corporate persona too readily.
Sure, he had hung up the suit for a pair of jeans and a trendy blue shirt, but he still measured his responses to my questions and levelled things out with a guarded smile.
He told me about how he grew up in Delhi and, probably as a result of his father being employed at the Ministry of Defence, studied at the Air Force School.
He then attended St Stephen’s and Jawaharlal Nehru University, emerging with a B.Sc, a master's in political science and an M.Phil and a PhD in international relations.
He told me how, by the time he was 22, he had passed the civil service exam and embarked on a career in the foreign service. His first posting was to Moscow in 1979, then came a stint in New Delhi before he moved to Washington as the first secretary in 1985.
Dr. Jaishankar talking about his early years.
He told me how, “probably as a result of the time spent in Air Force School”, he volunteered to move to Sri Lanka in 1988 and worked with the Indian Peace Keeping Force.
That was followed by stints in Budapest, where he helped launch Maruti cars, New Delhi, Japan, the Czech Republic (his first posting as ambassador) and Delhi again.
He told me how he was excited about moving to Singapore in January 2007, having visited the country many times and being appreciative of its orderliness and efficiency.
He accepts this is an easy gig, given that the relationship between Singapore and India is already so cordial.
But, displaying the competitive streak that runs down his back, he said the biggest challenge is to take the relationship to the next level:
“It’s already so good, so it’s very easy to be complacent.”
As diplomatic postings are normally three-year stints, he knows he could be into the final lap here.
Asked what he’ll miss the most when he finally calls in the movers, he said: “The efficiency.”
Pushed a little into the personal zone, he told me he stays in shape with three sessions of squash every week. But he also credits genetics for his trim frame at 53.
But he never told me about himself... Jaishankar the man.
It was only when his wife Kyoko came down the stairs and joined us that the man truly shed his suit. Suddenly, he was shy. Coy. Almost like an awkward teenager.
He sat stiffly for photographs, relaxing into a smile only when the bubbly Kyoko poked him in the back and made him twitch with laughter. He proudly pointed out the wedding photo – they met while he was posted in Tokyo and she has since taken up Indian citizenship – that has them dressed in traditional Japanese finery.
With his beard and flowing robes, he looked like Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai while she looked like a demure Japanese princess.
He then told me about Arjun, their nine-year-old son, and the Lord Of The Rings marathons the three of them get into on some weekends.
He has two children from his first marriage: Dhruva, 25, and Medha, 24.
He told me why he has no time for golf. “It takes too long, and when people tell me it’s great for networking, I tell them it would probably backfire because I don’t like to lose.” That competitive streak again.
He shared his passion for books on Japanese history and Hungarian ceramics and glassware.
"I think my collection is probably larger than the one at Kinokuniya,"
Dr. Jaishankar on his passion for Japanese history books.
He blushed when I complimented Kyoko for her husband’s sartorial finesse. “No, I don’t pick out his clothes,” she confided. “I just tell him what not to buy.”
He shared that they have a cross-cultural harmony that is best illustrated with food.
She loves butter chicken and says “a good dal is crucial for a home-cooked meal”. He loves miso soup with clams.
All three of them love eating out too: Peranakan food is a favourite, and he does enjoy the occasional plate of chicken rice.
“I am guilty of dousing it with too much chilli sauce though,” he confessed.
And then, when asked what he would do if he got a few hours all to himself - no
e-mail, no calls, no family commitments - he thought for a few seconds and said:
“I'd sit down with a good book, put on some music, probably Heart or some other band from the 1980s, and just chill out.”
Finally, we get to meet Jaishankar the man.
This article was first published in Tabla! on Nov 28, 2008.
latest stories
