Sunil Dutt remembers -- `To Jimmy, I was the Robert Redford of India'

Sunil Dutt remembers -- `To Jimmy, I was the Robert Redford of India'
SUNIL DUTT

MUMBAI, MARCH 16: The last visit of a US President in 1978 was special for me; after all, it was my friend Jimmy Carter who had come calling. The Government of India knew full well of the bond between the Dutts and the Carters, yet when Jimmy and his wife Rosalynn came here, we were not among those invited by Morarji Desai's regime for a meeting with the couple.

I felt very bad but the First Lady of US solved the problem. After Rosalynn and Jimmy realised a meeting with us had not been scheduled, she went to the US embassy in Delhi and rang me up in Mumbai. ``Our visit won't be complete if we do not meet you,'' she had said, with characteristic humility. When I told her we hadn't been invited by the government, she instantly replied: ``But we are inviting you.''

It was impossible to say no, and my wife and I then soon left for Delhi. On reaching Rashtrapati Bhavan, we were told that the Carters were in a meeting with prime minister Morarji Desai. After the conference was over and everyone came out, the Carters welcomed us warmly, but Morarji Desai was taken aback. He wondered what we were doing there! But he soon got to know the reason for our arrival as the Carters took us with them to their suite. We had a very pleasant conversation, completely non-political and focussing only on the well-being of our respective families.

I must mention here that there wasn't at that time the kind of media hype we have today about the US President's visit because the media then was different. Now it is aggressive and more open and hence the press blitzkrieg on Bill Clinton's visit. With Carter it was another matter for another reason: he was straightforward and simple, not colourful like Clinton.

But my friendship didn't begin with Jimmy Carter; it began with his mother, Lilian, who worked as Peace Corps nurse in Mumbai's Godrej Hospital (Vikhroli). I had a good equation with her. When we got to know that her son was running for the US presidency, we called her up in America and she asked us to come over during the run-up to the presidential polls.

In order to wish Jimmy success, my wife and I went to the Carters' village, Plains, in Georgia. It had a population of merely 600 but Jimmy Carter had made it his campaign headquarters, so it was buzzing with activity. There, Jimmy Carter introduced me to the US media as ``the Robert Redford of India.'' During our stay, we were put up with the village people, so we almost became part of the village.

After relinquishing his post as President, Carter settled down in Atlanta, Georgia. In the US, huge libraries are usually built for all former Presidents. Carter invited me to the US for the inauguration of his library, which had guests like Ronald Reagan (who had just become President) and George Bush, among other ex-Presidents. During that visit, Carter took me to a local restaurant for lunch and showed me the building he had built for his mother. He spoke proudly about the furniture he had got specifically made for the building. Carter never really lost touch with his roots, unlike many persons who make it big.

The third tie we visited him, we learnt that Lilian had died. We paid our respects to her at the cemetery. She was simply unforgettable, and so are Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

(Sunil Dutt, a former actor, is a member of Parliament)