Charan Singh was a frugal eater and a strict vegetarian. According to Ajit Singh, his son, “He had no interest in food. His regular meals would be dal, roti and one vegetable. I don’t think there were any accompaniments, and he would never eat more than one, or, at best, two rotis. Also, where was that much money to cook several dishes for so many people?” For breakfast, however, Charan Singh would generally have alu ka paratha. Ajit Singh also remembered that at one time there was a family cook called Chintamani who “would make great cheela (gram flour pancake) and he used to have it for breakfast.”

The former prime minister preferred it with lemon pickle or asafoetida-mango pickle. Sudhir Varma echoed what his uncle said, “In general, his eating habits were very frugal, simple and the food cooked in our kitchen was also very basic. Nothing exotic here, nor did it entail any complicated recipe.” According to Sudhir Verma, his grandfather’s breakfast, apart from the special tea he would have, comprised “some dry fruits and maybe some Isabgol husk. A guava fruit was also added sometimes, plucked from the trees in our house. And every once in a while, he would have cheela.”

Lunch was equally simple. “I remember we always had buttermilk with coarsely ground cumin and rock salt and that was the spiciest stuff on the table! Dal was very basic with no tomato, only cumin, turmeric and salt – a satvik recipe, I would say. There was always desi ghee. The roti was a missi roti made of a mixture of gram flour and wheat, topped with ghee. Dinner mostly comprised a vegetable like bottle gourd and was quite watery, so it was a very light meal. The only dessert made at home was kheer, which was not too thick and had raisins added to it.” There, however, appeared one item that appealed to Charan Singh’s taste buds. It was an occasional indulgence that Sudhir Varma remembers in Lucknow: “He loved the dahi vada and that too made at a particular shop at Ganeshganj, Lucknow. It was ordered once in a blue moon and was not a regular affair.”

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While the former prime minister busied himself with the affairs of the state, it was left to his wife Gayatri Devi to run his home and hearth on a very limited budget. And she did, with aplomb. In November 1940, when the former prime minister was incarcerated in Bareilly jail for one year during the Individual Satyagraha movement, Gayatri Devi moved with her six children to their village near Modinagar in UP and literally lived off the land. “She lived the tough life and I think it gave her a certain approach to life. She never pulled punches. He depended on her for the home and the kids, as well as advice pertaining to politics. He would listen actively to her. He would take his own decision but there were times when the decision he took was what she had suggested,” says Harsh Singh Lohit. Gayatri Devi later went on to successfully contest the state assembly elections from Iglas and Gokul towns in Uttar Pradesh and, later, the parliamentary polls from Kairana.

Harsh Singh recalls the time when Charan Singh was sent to jail again during the period of the infamous Emergency. Lohit was around 15 at the time. “It was terrible times for the family. We didn’t know which prison he was in and how he was. Vijay Karan who was then in charge of the Intelligence Bureau, was my parents’ neighbour and through him we got to know that he was in Tihar jail. My mother and aunt used to meet him and take food for him every single day. After he was released, he told us how he and the others who were in jail with him, like Prakash Singh Badal and Kuldeep Nayar, would cook their food in Tihar.”

Charan Singh might have been chief minister, state cabinet minister, union cabinet minister, deputy prime minister and, finally, prime minister, but despite their grandfather’s stature, none of the grandkids ever recall their birthdays being celebrated. “Don’t remember any birthday parties” is the common refrain. The only birthday party that Charan Singh, or rather his wife, ever hosted was for his youngest grandson, Jayant Chaudhary. It must also be the only such celebration where the birthday boy was absent, as Jayant, who was born in the US, was yet to shift to India with his family. Jayant and his family moved to India when he was about three years old. The “birthday party” was also the one attended by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and, as Jayant says, “some thawing happened and after that the government was formed. It was a big political event then.”

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For Charan Singh’s grandchildren, breaks from the regular, almost regimented, meals of one vegetable, rice, roti and some curd and buttermilk and the occasional kheer, came from goodies in the form of dry fruits, revdi and that were given to them occasionally. “Dadiji used to indulge us sometimes; there would be this magic kothri with dry fruits, revdi, gajak and such like and once a week or so she would give us some,” remembers grandson Jayant. While his meals might have been ultra-simple, the former prime minister did like his kheer. The dish was, however, prepared on special occasions and festivals like Holi and Diwali. “As an Arya Samaji, he did not go to temples; there was no idol worship. On Diwali, there would be a havan, and he would put a tika. We would light diyas and burst crackers. He used to play Holi and sing. There would be other people singing too, that too in groups.”

The indulgent festive menu would be puri, kheer and alu kachori. Harsh Singh Lohit looks back on those days nostalgically. “There would be great laughter around the dining table. He would keep eating his kheer and once he finished what was in his bowl, he would ask for more. Then he would say the kheer is over but there’s still kachori left, so let’s eat that. And all the while, he would have an impish smile on his face. He used to like his kachori, crumpled up and doused in ghee.” And in the signature style of the Singh kitchen, “the kachori would also be a very simple affair. They were not like khasta kachoris. The filling would be potatoes seasoned with just salt, turmeric powder and a little bit of cumin, something like alu ka paratha but much smaller. The kheer would be heavy milk kheer, not too thin and not too thick, with some dry fruit scattered on top. He also liked his roti crumbled with some ghee.”

Like the basic Indian vegetarian meal that he liked, Charan Singh’s way of keeping fit was equally simple. He went for walks every morning and did yoga. Vandana Ghadiali says, “I remember in Lucknow, he used to go for an early morning walk in the zoo area around 5–6 am. There was a Swamiji who came from a yoga institute and Nana, Nani and whoever was interested would do yoga in the morning. I didn’t see anyone doing yoga after they shifted to Delhi.” There was, of course, wrestling, even if it was play-wrestling!

A recipe from the Singh kitchen: Tariwali Lauki

Ingredients

  • Bottle gourd: 1 kg

  • Ghee: 2 tablespoons

  • Cumin: 1/4th teaspoon

  • Asafoetida: a pinch

  • Salt to taste

  • Turmeric: 1/2 teaspoon

  • Ginger: 1/4th teaspoon, grated

  • Red chilli powder: 1/4th teaspoon

Method

  • Peel and cut the lauki into small pieces.

  • Heat the ghee in a pan or wok. Add asafoetida and cumin. When the cumin splutters, add the diced lauki and stir well. Then add salt to taste along with turmeric powder, stirring all the while. Now add grated ginger and red chilli powder, mixing it all thoroughly.

  • Add water to cover the lauki and let it come to a boil, stirring occasionally.

  • Then lower the flame and let the lauki mixture simmer. If required, add more water.

  • Cook till the lauki is tender with a thin gravy. Serve with roti or steamed rice.

Excerpted with permission from The Prime Minister’s Table: Delicacies and Diplomacies from the Era of Nehru to Modi, Purabi Shridhar and Sanghita Singh, Amaryllis Publications.