There’s a curious fascination in going through the photo album of a family, one that enshrines their fondest memories and happiest moments. If the album happens to be that of politico Murli Deora’s family — then the fascination rises significantly. However, the charm of a new book on the politician, Under the Streetlights by wife Hema Deora, lies not in its chronicling of a public figure, but in the rather more personal view of a family whose life is significantly entwined with that of the country’s. Filled with photos of the Deora family at various stages-beginning with Murli and Hema’s wedding to posing alongside their grown-up sons, Milind and Mukund — Hema says Under the Streetlights captures a journey of over 40 years.
“I’ve always thought that it’s so much nicer to measure the height of a tree when it’s still standing tall rather than when it has fallen down. So that was at the back of my mind while working on the book,” says Hema, whose careful cataloguing, captioning and coordination on the book occurred over a period of 11 months. The effort shows, in the beautiful detailing of a lamppost motif in the lettering and in the various signposts that denote the various sections in the book. And then of course, there are the photos, some in colour and some in black and white, that feature personalities like Mother Teresa, Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi and a rather young Rahul Gandhi, Bill and Hillary Clinton and many others.
“I had a biography in mind, but thought, why would anyone want to read about someone else’s life? Photos are different. It takes so little time to go through them, and there’s always this sensation of opening up a mysterious box: You keep wondering what else is going to come up. My daughter-in-law Pooja helped me select the photos,” Hema says.
The selected photos provide intimate glimpses, but not the family’s whole story, she admits: “Our path wasn’t always smooth; the anxieties and stresses that are part of life, I haven’t mentioned. It’s the good memories that are there (in the book).” She would be hard pressed to pick a favourite though. “Every moment had different sentiments attached to it, whether it was my wedding or the fact that I’d come full circle with my family or meeting with someone like Mother Teresa,” Hema says.
Under one of the family portraits in the book, Hema mentions how difficult it was to get everyone together, with work commitments keeping her husband and son Milind away in Delhi. Quiz her about it, and Hema says with a laugh, “Even more than getting them together, their desire not to be photographed was difficult to overcome! It was an effort to get them to smile. They’d say, ‘Oh no mom, not again’ and I’d say, ‘It’s just once a year…’ And I’d have to catch them so quickly. But I’m glad I did.”
Throughout the book, there is a sense of Hema as a quiet but strong figure, handling the public world of her husband and her own personal world with equal ease (a fine arts graduate from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Hema has worked as an interior decorator and is a national Bridge champion). “It was tough,” she says. “All my life I was dominated by these three M’s: Murli, Mukul and Milind. And then there was a fourth M in the form of our dog Muddy! But by the grace of God, I remained who I was. It didn’t matter to me what they did. Whatever their achievements were, it was through their own efforts. I was a supporting figure, much like a ladder in a ship-when the ship went up, the ladder went up; when the ship went down, the ladder went down. I kept up with my old friends, did whatever I wanted to, dressed the way I wanted. Of course, in my official capacity, I did whatever was needed, but in my daily life, I wasn’t affected at all.”
Finishing Under the Streetlights (a reference to Murli Deora’s humble beginnings) has given her a sense of satisfaction, says Hema.
“I’ve known my husband for over 40 years now,” she says. “He came from a background where every day was a challenge, and he made an effort to meet that challenge. But he did it with his values intact. I’m glad I could bring that out in the book.”