Another Indian official who worked closely with him for several years as head of the external affairs ministry told me how after a grueling four-day official tour of Nepal Nehru slept a little on the plane on the way back to Delhi but as soon as he got to his house he set to work on urgent papers and continued working until four in the morning.
After a couple of hours of sleep he was at work again until midday. He then went to the airport to keep an appointment with the Gliding Club to try a new glider. He spent an hour in the air, though it was a day of dust and with the thermometer standing at 110.
This informant had already been astonished by Nehru's performance in Bhutan in 1958 when he trekked on foot tirelessly and outpaced men some twenty years younger than himself.
Image: Nehru at a cricket match for parliamentarians in New Delhi.
Buy Nehru, A Contemporary's Estimate by Walter Crocker
Also see: One quest above all
Available: Books on Nehru at Rediff Books!
Advertisement
