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Vaihayasi P Daniel in Bombay
The modest, ground floor flat at Habib Court, Colaba, south Bombay, is brightly lit.
Ring the doorbell once. No response. Twice.
Former admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, in an undershirt and shorts, pokes his head out of the side window. "No I can't speak to you. I am leaving for Sholapur just now."
This reporter, tentatively: "I thought you would be happy to hear that George Fernandes has resigned?"
"Happy?! No! I know he has resigned." But at that he relents and rolls up the venetian blinds that guards the door and ushers you in. Yes, he has a minute or two to talk before he leaves. His lawyer wife, Niloufer, attractive in black, bustles in from the next room, beaming. "He really doesn't have time. We are leaving." She is very cheerful.
He says he is not happy or jubilant but at 8 pm at night the home is full of sunshine. The same home, a few weeks back, during the International Fleet Review, seemed morose. Sad.
The phones begin to ring non-stop. Hindustan Times. Asian Age. In the next room the television blares. Bhagwat juggles telephone cords and quotes. "He is giving a long winded explanation on television. Ki hum bilkul theek hai... Self exoneration. Let someone else decide!"
The same face that was lined with bitterness, a few weeks ago, you imagine, seems at peace. "... And don't quote me as ex-admiral. Ex-naval chief yes. Not ex-admiral. About GF? George Fernandes! He is called GF."
Another call... "Congratulations? For what? No?! Ok, ok I accept."
"It has not ended yet. Bahut sangharsh karna parega."
He is off to Sholapur tonight. "I have been trying to call my travel agent but..." he laughs and gestures at the ringing phones and throws his hands in the air. And then on the weekend he will be in New Delhi.
Interviews are being fixed up in the capital. He was on Aaj Tak. And Star News. And Good Morning India. Even Tehelka.com called. "It hasn't stopped since the other day," he adds. And suddenly the man who has been quietly living his life on the news sidelines -- worthy of a few inches of column space on page seven now and then -- is a media hero again.
Says Bhagwat, "I wish he had simply said he apologised to the nation and the people of India. And without his long winded explanation and justification. No one can be a judge in his own case. It is for the people of the country to decide whether under his stewardship the security of the nation has been damaged or jeopardised or not.
"But the story has not yet ended..." That is all he is willing to put on the record for the moment. He is cautious. Choosing his words carefully. Niloufer adds and exits from the next room.
As you leave the phone rings. It is the long ring of a long distance call.
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