FROM the gate, I could see Laloo Yadav, wearing a white banyan and a white lungi, sitting on a chair in the sun. Seated beside him was Rabri Devi. There were a couple of chairs in front o of him, occupied by his hangers-on. As we advanced towards him, Laloo took notice of us. I don't remember whether he stood up to receive us but he surely shook my hand and asked me to sit beside him.

Laloo Yadav introduced me to Rabri Devi as a journalist from Delhi, who was on a visit to the state to do a book on Bihar. In a cream, thick-bordered sari with a big bindi on her broad forehead, Rabri Devi appeared more charming than I had imagined her to be. She gave me a warm smile and I felt at home in the company of the most distinguished couple in the country.

To me they appeared a perfect made-for-each-other couple, enjoying a light talk after a satisfying lunch. There was no sign of worries of statecraft on her visage. On the teapoi in front them, there was not a single file. There were no pretensions of being busy.

Laloo Yadav asked me what kind of book I was planning to write. When I indicated to him the broad contours of the book, he launched a diatribe against Sankarshan Thakur for the kind of book he wrote. When I told him I had read the book, he asked one of his aides to fetch a particular book for me. It was The Laloo Phenomenon: Paradoxes of Changing India by K.C. Yadav whom the book's jacket introduces as "A specialist in modern Indian history and regional and social justice studies, who has authored over a dozen books published from India and abroad. He is currently working as Director, Indian Institute of Social Justice, Gurgaon."

"You must read this book. It gives a befitting reply to Sankarshan Thakur," said Laloo Yadav. I had heard about panegyrics like the Laloo chalisa but had not seen a hagiography like this one. Since the book sought to give "the other side" of the picture, I decided then and there to read the book. As I thanked him for the gift, a convoy of cars drove right up to the CM's residence. "Dr C.P. Thakur is coming," whispered Nalin, as the then Union Health Minister walked towards us. "He is coming to meet the Chief Minister", explained Laloo Yadav. I faced a predicament. Should I sit there or vacate the place? Laloo Yadav realised my problem. He gestured me to continue sitting there. All of us got up to receive Dr Thakur, who took the chair to the left of Rabri Devi.

Laloo Yadav introduced me to Dr Thakur. Though I interjected to say that we had met earlier, Dr Thakur did not show any sign of familiarity with me. Whether he realised it or not, I had played a small role in the shaping of his political career.

This happened in the early eighties. Dr Thakur was one of the top medical practitioners of Patna. He had such a large number of patients to attend that he got printed a list of prescriptions. He just ticked the appropriate prescription and it was for his staff to write it down on his prescription pad. Dr Thakur's roaring practice naturally attracted the attention of the Income Tax Department, which organised a raid on his premises.

As usual, the IT sleuths claimed to have unearthed "incriminating documents" and detected a huge undeclared wealth. I was at that time working for The Searchlight and holding charge of the paper in the absence of the editor, R.K. Mukkar, who had gone on leave to Delhi. Our Special Correspondent, Narmadeswar Sinha, had filed the report and it was published on page one with the prominence it merited.

As it turned out, ours was the most detailed report on the raid. Early next morning I had a surprise when Dr Thakur, accompanied by, lo and behold, Narmadeswar Sinha, visited me at my house at Rajendranagar. The doctor wanted me to retract the story as it had damaged his reputation. It was a funny spectacle of the complainer and the complainant joining hands. I decided to ask them some plain questions.

"Did the raid take place?" I asked. "Yes, it took place. So what part of the story was wrong?" Neither Sinha nor Thakur had a definite answer. A retraction was impossible, though I was willing to carry his contradiction, I told them bluntly even as my wife prepared pancakes with sweetened coconut flakes inside and coffee for them. She had a special reason to treat Thakur as his son was her colleague at the Oriental Insurance company.

Thakur might have returned disappointed but Sinha told me later in the office that he merely accompanied Thakur and did not want any contradiction of his story. It was perhaps symptomatic of the caste loyalties they had for each other as both of them belonged to the landowning Bhumihar caste.

A couple of years later, Dr Thakur told me that it was that income tax raid that firmed up his desire to join politics to retrieve his honour. In the olden days, people joined politics to serve the nation but these days they joined it for the power and respectability politics bestows on them, I mused. Thakur was a greenhorn in politics when he won the 1984 Lok Sabha election from Patna on the Congress ticket defeating Ramavatar Shastri of the CPI, who studied vedas and upanishads at Kashi Vidyapeeth only to be drawn to dialectical materialim. Since then much water has flowed down the Ganga and it was not surprising that he did not remember me.

It was apparent that Thakur did not want me to remain there. How can a journalist be privy to the discussion a Union Minister had with the Bihar Chief Minister? He might have thought. But since the master of the house had allowed me to sit there, I remained glued to the chair. By then then local photographers had done their job -- covering Thakur's meeting with Rabri Devi.

When it became certain that I was not leaving, Thakur began his discussion referring to some scheme the Centre was drawing up to fight diseases like kala-azar in Bihar. Laloo heard him for less than a minute, interrupted him and began his monologue. He told Thakur that Bihar has produced some of the best doctors in the world and it was a pity that there were not enough medical colleges in the state to train them. The migration of Bihar's medical students to places like Bangalore and Manipal must end. The Bihar government would provide all assistance required for setting up medical institutions in the state. He sought the Centre's help in this regard.

Thakur was obviously getting bored. He seemed to regret that he could not complete his statement. He was nobody in front of Laloo Yadav, I thought. At this juncture, Laloo Yadav asked him whether he had something else to say. Slightly embarrassed, Thakur wanted Laloo Yadav's help in speeding up allotment of a plot of government land for a certain school. So that was the purpose of his visit!

Laloo Yadav asked one of his aides to get the Chief Secretary on the line. Within a few seconds, the aide came running with a cordless phone. Laloo Yadav told the Chief Secretary in clearly modulated voice to put up the file immediately and then handed over the instrument to Thakur, "Now you talk to him." Thakur introduced himself and requested the CS to speed up the work. The Union Minister was obviously pleased.

When Laloo got up, it was a sign for Thakur to leave. "I will see you off" said Laloo Yadav as he accompanied Thakur right up to the car. A few minutes later, he returned to the chair with a smile and told me: "I purposely asked you to stay here. Otherwise, he would have sat for a long time and bored me to death. Don't think those who accompanied him are political workers. They are criminals."

Now I knew how he uses others for his own purposes. Laloo Yadav's ability to wriggle out of any situation is well known as this incident bears proof. It happened in October 1988, soon after Laloo Yadav was elected leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly. I had gone to the state guest house to interview Devi Lal, then chief minister of Haryana, whose help was instrumental in his becoming the opposition leader. I had arrived at the duly appointed time of 5 o'clock by when Devi Lal had got ready and was having his breakfast, consisting of a large bowl of papaya.

Those days Devi Lal was frequently visiting Bihar as other parts of the country to beef up his image and to prepare himself for a bigger role at the Centre. I asked him whether it was proper for him to use the Haryana govenment's aircraft for such political visits. Here let me quote from my report carried in The Hindustan Times:

“Devi Lal said, "Am I not invited to the states in my capacity as Chief Minister and not as Lok Dal leader? What is an aircraft if not a vehicle? It is for speed and to facilitate the saving of time? In traveling by the aircraft I save the time of the Chief Minister.

"Just then the Bihar Lok Dal legislature party leader, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, dropped into the room. With a mischievous smile, Mr Devi Lal asked him, "Would you have invited me if I were not the CM?" He expected a "No" reply from him but in the split second that was available to Mr Yadav, he could not make out what reply Mr Devi Lal was expecting. He said: "How can you ask such a question? You are our messiah." Devi Lal's ploy did not work.

The messiah, who helped him become Chief Minister, realised that Laloo Yadav had only permanent interests and not permanent friends when he discarded the grand old man of Haryana and hitched his political wagon to V.P. Singh following the latter's announcement about implementation of the Mandal formula of reservation.

Laloo Yadav ordered tea as he picked up a stainless steel spittoon and directed into it a fierce-looking gobbet of red liquid and small bits of betel nut. An orderly -- a fat old man - came running with a jug of water and stood behind Laloo holding the jug in a bent posture. Laloo chose to ignore him as he told me, "The fruits of independence were yet to reach the common man. The hiatus between the rich and the poor had widened. The people were disillusioned. It did not matter who the Chief Minister was. It was at this juncture that I came up. I had no mai-bap to help me. I had to fight against all odds. I speak the language of the masses. Some people say that I am arrogant. Some say that I am a liar. But the common people of Bihar know who I am because I took an oath before Jayaprakash Narayan's statute to protect their interests and protect secularism."

This was not my idea of an interview, listening to a political speech. But when the customer is Laloo Yadav, a journalist does not have much of a choice. "Brother, feudalism may have ended but the feudal mindset remains," he said to disarm me even as the old man stood behind him with the jug. He took the jug in his hands, took a mouthful of water, gurgled and spat into the spittoon. It was time for tea, which was unbearably sweet. When he realised that I was not fond of sugar he said, "Madam too does not take sugar." Later, Rabri Devi told me that her aversion for sugar has a medical reason.

Laloo Yadav was in his elements. He detailed the steps he had taken to improve the lot of the poor like setting up charvaha schools for the cowherds, building pucca houses for the Musahars. "That is precisely when the vested interests struck back instigating caste violence."

What about the charge that you are anti-development?" I asked. "Where are the resources? Ninety per cent of the state's resources are spent on the High Court, the Raj Bhavan and five lakh employees", Laloo Yadav replied. It was significant that he specifically mentioned the High Court and the Raj Bhavan, the two sources from where he perceives a threat to his position.

"I am a mass leader. And if you finish a mass leader, criminals will thrive. And that's what's happening now," said Laloo Yadav. I missed the import of his statement. So I brought up his reported aversion for Information Technology. "No, I am not against computer. But computer is no solution to some of the basic problems facing the nation. The prices of agricultural products have crashed. Fishermen are dying. Farmers are committing suicide but the Centre is incessantly talking about IT. Parliament has become a doll in the hands of the executive. While the animal population is coming down, we are told to drink soyabean milk, instead of cow's milk. They have surrendered before the WTO. But when I speak the truth, they call me a bumpkin. I cannot but oppose the Centre's encroachment on the powers of the state."

Laloo is not unduly perturbed over the division of the state, which he once said would Happ en only over his dead body. He gave me details of the caste figures in Jharkhand to say that forces aligned with him will win the next election.

Does Laloo Yadav have any regrets? "Yes, my regret is that I trusted some people. People like Sharad Yadav, Rambilas Paswan, and George Fernandes".

Nearly two hours had passed since we sat down and we already had two rounds of tea. It was time to leave. As Laloo got up, I asked him whether I could see his fish pond. I could find a sudden excitement on his face. "Come, come, I will show you the pond" he said as he asked one of his aides to fetch a shawl. I had no idea that I was in for the most exciting part of the interview.

He led me to a small concrete pond behind the CM's building. "We caught all the big fish. The pond now contains only small fish." A large number of small fish could be seen moving in the clear, shallow water.

"This place was deserted. None of my predecessors ever cared to come this side. Laloo Yadav showed the mango, litchee and other plants that he planted there. "They have already started giving a good crop," he said as he tied the white towel round his head like a pagiri. He walked on the narrow bund that separated the area where cauliflower was grown and the area where mustard seeds were ripening. Laloo Yadav walked in the front. I followed him and Rabri Devi followed me. We moved in a procession in an eastward direction. On the way, he showed me some exotic fruit-bearing plants he had planted."

As we reached the eastern gate, the security guards who were relaxing in the afternoon sun, suddenly sprang to attention and saluted him. His orderly, in white uniform, came running with a jug of water. Laloo received it, took a little water in his mouth and gurgled out even as I tried to avoid some particles of it falling on my dress. "See, that plantain tree. The bananas have ripened," I pointed out to Laloo Yadav. "I will get it cut immediately" said Laloo Yadav as he ordered a servant to do the job. Two minutes later I saw a worker cutting the huge bunch of bananas and carrying it to the CM's residence.

At the main gate a small group of Muslims were trying to attract Laloo Yadav's attention. "Kya baat hain?" (What happened?), he asked them. They all started saying something but we could not make head or tail of what they said. At this, Laloo Yadav asked two of them to come inside and explain what happened. A bearded, middle-aged man and youth were allowed to cross the gate and reach Laloo Yadav. They gave him a hand-written memorandum.

Their complaint pertained to a dispute regarding a Muslim grave in the Patna City area. Laloo Yadav heard them for a minute and told them that he would do the needful. They thanked him and returned to the gate as we walked along. A few seconds later they began shouting the slogan, "Laloo Yadav zindabad". Obviously, they were pleased with the response they got from Laloo Yadav.

"What was their problem?", I asked Laloo Yadav. "They are Muslim brothers from the Patna City area. Some people have encroached upon their grave. I will find out what actually happened," he replied as he asked an aide to call the Senior Superintendent of Police. Rabri Devi just walked beside Laloo Yadav giving him the authority he needs to order the officials about.

"This is the air-conditioned cowshed" said Laloo Yadav as we reached the area. "You said air-conditioned?" I asked Laloo. "No I did not say that. That is what some journalists wrote about the cowshed," explained Laloo Yadav even as I started counting the cows and their numerous progeny. Though there was no air-conditioner in sight, the cows were indeed healthy and had plenty of fodder to feed on. I gave up my bid to count the animals when I found there were too many to count. Instead, I asked Rabri Devi how much milk was sold per day. "150 kg", she replied matter-of-factly.

While I had read reports about his cowshed in both Sankarshan Thakur's book and newsapers, I had no clue to the existence of a hatchery there. "What's that?", I asked Laloo pointing towards a machine. "It's an incubator". "Could you please open it for me to have a look?" Laloo complied with my request. As he opened it, Rabri Devi, who had not heard my query earlier, innocently told me, "Yeh machine hain" (This is a machine.) "How cute!" I intoned. The machine had a capacity of 1500 eggs. It was underutilised as only 500 eggs were inside at that time."

"Why do you need so many chicken?" I could not resist asking Laloo Yadav. "We all eat them." I had difficulty resisting laughter. My surprises were not over as he showed some cages where different kinds of "consumable" animals and birds were kept.

Laloo wanted me to have a good look at the Maruti 800 (BHQ 5558) parked inside the vehicle shed. "I bought this car by raising a loan. But they say it is a disproportionate asset." The conducted tour was nearly over. "I don't live in this big house. I live in that two-room structure" said LalooYadav as Rabri Devi giggled.

"Can I see your living room?" By then I had become overconfident. "Yes, why not? He took me to his air-conditioned drawing room. On the walls were pictures of his family -- all portraits gifted by various studios in the state. He showed me in particular two photographs -- Laloo Yadav in police custody during the Emergency. The bookshelf was overflowing with books. "Do you get time to read books? I asked him. "No, no I don't read them. People present them to me and I just stock them there."

His bedroom was tastefully furnished with large sofas and a double-bed. I had been told that he stayed in the outhouse to steer clear of charges that he was living in the Chief Minister's house. "I will show you something else", he led me to a small room in the campus where on a cot were placed large glass jars containing different kinds of pickles. I suddenly remembered a picture in which some beauty queens who visited Patna were being shown the pickle jars.

Another one hour had passed. An orderly brought a large plate of freshly-cut papaya. "This is very good for health" said Laloo as I had two large pieces of the fresh, home-grown fruit. He was clearly indulgent that day. He asked an aide to lift an earthen jar kept there. There were some large black fish in the jar. Laloo named the fish and said that if I could wait for some time, he would himself fry it for me. "Another day" I said as I lifted my camera bag and took leave of Laloo Yadav and his wife. Dusk had fallen when I left 1, Anne Marg.

The writer can be reached at ajphilip@yahoo.com

The writer can be reached at ajphilip@yahoo.com

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