Kitchen not ready, PM delays moving in

For, Gursharan Kaur, who enjoys doing her bit of the domestic chores, remodelling the house still means doing up the kitchen.

In the Prime Minister’s house, the kitchen has so far been under the grip of a sort of a butler-bawarchi-khansama regime. But with Kaur taking over the reins, the kitchen slabs would have to be lowered to suit her modest height.

This would be quite a departure from the past. In its past 20 years as the power address of Lutyen’s Delhi, the place has seen six prime ministers. The last occupant was, famously, a bachelor.

Rajiv Gandhi was the first prime minister to function from 7 Race Course Road — he had moved from the old prime ministerial residence of 1, Akbar Road and 1, Safdarjung Road, that was converted into a memorial to his mother, Indira Gandhi. His wife, Sonia Gandhi, was totally homebound in those days but somehow the old feudal air surrounding the Nehru-Gandhi clan stuck to the new PM house.

The simple delights of pots and pans were in no way an integral part of the next occupant’s domestic life. ‘‘Sita Devi was quite an intellectual who had a life of her own,’’ an old-timer says of former prime minister V.P. Singh’s wife. Chandrashekhar, who succeeded V.P. Singh, had a rather short stint. So, the ‘‘room-service’’ culture was never really broken.

The next full-term occupant was P.V. Narasimha Rao, who was a widower and who maintained a sparse, ‘‘nearly austere’’, household.

Deve Gowda, who led the United Front experiment after the Congress debacle, preferred to leave his family in his southern estate. His successor, I.K. Gujral, was too entrenched in Delhi. He maintained his other address — the Maharani Bagh mansion — all through.

Manmohan Singh is still staying at 19, Safdarjung Road. This is also because his predecessor, A.B. Vajpayee, took time to find a bungalow that suited his numerological needs.

‘‘It had to be refurbished according to the (Vajpayee’s foster) family’s tastes,’’ an official at the Urban Development Ministry said.

As for 7 & 3 Race Course Road, ‘‘it is being re-designed and adjusted to fulfill the requirements of a housewife. From furnishing to wall paint, it would reflect their simple way of life’’, CPWD officials said.