The Director of The Nehru Centre, Mr Amish Tripathi was in conversation with Lord Meghnad Desai at the launch of Lord Desai’s book, “Rebellious Lord An Autobiography” India in the UK (High Commission of India, London) last Friday. Lord Meghnad Desai, has been Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics, has 38 years of teaching experience and is a life peer at the British House of Lords. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in 2008.
Born in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, on July 10, 1940, Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai grew up with two brothers and one sister. He is said to have gone to secondary school at age seven and matriculated at 14. He secured a bachelor's degree in economics from Ramnarain Ruia College, affiliated to the University of Mumbai, and then pursued a master's degree in economics from the University of Mumbai, after which he won a scholarship to University of Pennsylvania in August 1960. He completed his PhD in economics at Pennsylvania in 1963.
He quit his Labour Party membership of 49 years over antisemitism concerns in November 2020, following the readmission of former Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn as a member.
Reminiscing his childhood, Lord Desai remembered seeing the king of Vadodara twice a year through the window of his house, as the former sat on an elephant, which was fascinating for Lord Desai who could see him at an eye level. His father had a “sarkari” (government) job which made him travel from Vadodara to Bombay (now Mumbai) back then. “I had a very loving family,” he said as he fondly talked about “being addicted to studying” (to which Tripathi chuckled and said that Lord Desai is a worshipper of Saraswati, not Lakshmi). However, according to Lord Desai’s online bio, he is an atheist. He is also an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.
Did the theatre circuit lose a wonderful director when he started chasing economics? Lord Desai explained that he felt one had to have an enormously secure ego to be able to survive a theatrical life among Gujarati stars and filmmakers. In those days it was more about having a pension and a safe retirement plan in the job one pursued.
He also talked about being financially independent at the age of 21 in America in the 1950s when his home in Baroda didn’t have a telephone and he had left hsi support structures (aunts and family) back in India and there was no way to go back or connect with them instantly than to make the most of what he had back then. He noticeably never faced racism in the west wherever he went. He expressed that in his opinion, Indian middle class and upper class people think they are white.
“I started reading books which nobody else was reading,” said Lord Desai as he described himself as more “devious” than rebellious. He picked every book from the library, especially the ones whose authors he hadn’t heard of. “I said, let’s have fun in the library while you can,” he added.
Lord Desai also told Amish Tripathi that he has briefly known US Vice President elect Kamala Harris’ mother, Shayamla Gopalan who brought baby Kamala in a buggy and he hasn’t seen her since. “She brought up her children to think of themselves as Black Americans,” he said as he spoke about Harris’ mother who was a dynamic lady in his understanding. He also knew her father whom Lord Desai described as a “very very bright man”.
Lord Desai has written about 35 books so far, ranging from economics, fiction, to law and other matters. “Once I write a book, it’s away from me,” he said as he clarified that the fiction he writes is often a reflection of his real life observations which he cannot make look too real as some of the stories come from his living friends and fellow politicians.
When asked to give a message to young Indians settling or settling in London, his immediate response was “integrate”. He highlighted that one doesn’t need to forget their roots which they nurture in their motherland, but integration into the culture of the country they choose to settle in is imperative.
Lord Desai, besides being an admirer of theatre, is also fond of Bollywood. In Fact he also showed K Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam in The House of Lords once. Closing the conversation with Tripathi after taking the viewers on a virtual tour of his life from India - America- and the UK, he signed off by singing one of his favourite songs from Bollywood - Mera joota hai Japani (from Raj Kapoor’s Shree 420) leaving the audience with his revolutionary, rebellious and radiant rendition of the song.
