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T
he prIme mInIster`s oIIIcIal
resIdence Ior the last 30
years, 7 Race Course Road, or
7 RCR, Is a mIsnomer.
It Is not one house but
a cluster oI IIve bungalows -
Numbers J, 3, 5, 7 and 9 - on an
avenue lIned wIth putran}Iva trees.
Bungalow J has a helIpad.
Bungalow 3, whIte In colour, Is where
Manmohan SIngh has lIved wIth wIIe
GursharanKaur Ior J0years. BeIore hIm,
Atal BIharI Va}payee and Ra}Iv GandhI
lIved In Bungalow 5. There Is a good
chance that Narendra ModI wIll opt Ior 5
RCR whIch In SIngh`s tIme was used Ior
guests. The complex Is called 7 RCR
because Bungalow 7 Is the prIme mInIs
ter`s oIIIcIal workplace, apart Irom hIs
oIIIce In South Block. Bungalow 9 RCR Is
where the SpecIal ProtectIonGroup(SPG),
the elIte Iorce responsIble Ior the prIme
mInIster`s securIty, Is housed. ThIs bunga
lowhas a tennIs court.
These aren`t bIg bungalows. HIs
house has }ust two bedrooms, an addI
tIonal room, a dInIng room and the maIn
lIvIng room that can, at a stretch, accom
modateabout 30people, says arelatIveoI
SIngh. In comparIson, the house SIngh
occupIedwhenhe was IInance mInIster -
8 KrIshna Menon Marg (Va}payee lIves
there now) - was huge, wIth a central
gallery, sIx bedrooms, IIve toIlets, a guest
wIng, three kItchens, oIIIce space and J2
servant quarters. The lawns at 7 RCR,
however, beat everythIng else. They are
massIve, manIcured and bIg enough to
run a horse, says the relatIve. Va}payee
would oIten sIt In the lawn to read hIs
mornIng newspapers. The abundant gul
mohur, scmul andurjunutrees growIngon
the premIses are also home to several
bIrds, IncludIng peacocks.
GettIng a peepIntolIIe here Is not easy.
Photographs oI the place, apart Irom
some sorry shots oI mInIsters walkIng In
and out oI the veranda, are ImpossIble to
get. Asked Ior such pIctures, an oIIIcIal at
Press Trust oI IndIa, the country`s largest
news agency, exclaImed, What It`s out oI
the questIon. Ask oIIIcers Inthe InIorma
tIon & broadcastIng mInIstry
andthereplyIs standard: youneed
toplevel clearances. But that won`t help
eIther because evenIor state dInners, the
shots are kept very tIght so that not many
detaIls oI the space are revealed, says an
InIormatIonoIIIcer. Compared to thIs, the
WhIte House and J0 DownIng Street, resI
dences oI the US presIdent and UK prIme
mInIster respectIvely, oIIer vIrtual tours oI
the premIses.
T
here Is only one entrance to 7 RCR
and that Is guarded by SPG, says
San}aya Baru, SIngh`s Iormer medIa advIs
er and author oI Thc AcciJcntul Irimc
Ministcr: Thc Muking unJ Unmuking oj
MunmohunSingh. The IIrst buIldIng you
come to when you enter Is 9 RCR. Further
ahead Is the parkIng and then the recep
tIon area. Beyond thIs Is the even more
heavIly guarded enclosed space that
houses 7, 5, 3 and J RCR. RelatIves can`t
drop by unannounced. FrIends cannot
sImply turn up to meet the prIme mInIs
ter. Only those vIsItors whose names
have beengIvento SPGby the prIme mIn
Ister`s personal secretarIes are allowed
In, says Baru. The rule applIes to every
body - IncludIng the natIonal securIty
advIser, top bureaucrats, relatIves and
guests (barrIng close IamIly). VIsItors are
expected to carry an IdentIty card.
Once that barrIer Is crossed, SPG
IerrIes the vIsItor to the prIme mInIster.
There Is a dedIcated Ileet oI cars - Tata
Nanos, at one poInt oI tIme - Ior that.
The resIdentIal bungalow has an addI
tIonal rIng oI securIty. Nearby hIghrIse
Hotel Samrat cannot let out the top
Iour Iloors: these have been taken over
by the government. The whole area Is a
noIly zone.
ThIs Ienced Iortress oIIers many perks
that the resIdents oI much bIgger bunga
lows In Lutyens` DelhI can only dream oI.
For example, It has a power substatIon
(there Is no questIon oI 7 RCR ever IacIng
a blackout), doctors and nurses Irom the
All IndIa InstItute oI MedIcal ScIences on
duty round the clock and an ambulance
on standby that always accompanIes the
prIme mInIster`s motorcade -It Includes
sIx BMWs, all made to order durIng
Va}payee`s tenure. Two are used by the
prIme mInIster In DelhI, two are Ior VIP
guests and the remaInIng two are Ilown
wIth the prIme mInIster wherever he trav
els In the country.
The workplace at 7 RCR has two small
rooms on eIther sIde as you enter Ior each
oI the two personal secretarIes. Then
there Is a small corrIdor wIth a vIsItor`s
room to the rIght. Further ahead Is a
chamber to meet guests. Ad}acent to that
Is the lIvIng space Ior larger meetIngs,
behInd whIch Is the dInIng room where
breakIast and lunch meetIngs are hosted.
A corrIdor Irom 7 RCR takes you to
PanchvatI whIch can be segmented Into
two or three conIerence rooms or a large
banquet hall. ThIs Is where SIngh hosted
DavId Cameron, George Bush, HIllary
ClInton and Barack Obama.
On the walls are artworks loaned by
the NatIonal Gallery oI Modern Art
(NGMA). AnNGMAoIIIcIal says the works
are changed every now and then, In con
sultatIon wIth the prIme mInIster`s oIIIce.
DurIng vIsIts abroad, the prIme mInIster
collects a number oI gIIts - SIngh
receIved paIntIngs, mementos, metallIc
bowls, tea sets - whIch are eIther dIs
played at 7 RCRor sent to the toshukhunu
(treasure house).
Not }ust art, evenIIlms travel to 7 RCR.
In 2006, soon aIter Lugc Ruho Munnu
hui released, Raa}a Kanwar, who was
then the dIrector oI UFO MovIez, whIch
specIalIses In dIgItal cInema, organIsed a
prIvate screenIng at 7 RCR. We receIved
a call Irom the prIme mInIster`s oIIIce Ior
a prIvate screenIng at PanchvatI Ior the
prIme mInIster, hIs IamIly and a Iew
members oI hIs oIIIce, says Kanwar.
Later, prIvate screenIngs oI Tuurc
Zumccn Iur and Iccpli Livc were also
organIsed. The portable system consIst
Ing oI a server and a dIgItal pro}ector was
brought Into 7 RCRaIter the usual securI
ty checks.
Barbers, taIlors and stylIsts too are a
phone call away. We wouldget acall Irom
7 RCRwhenever the prIme mInIster need
ed newclothes stItched, says SIngh`s reg
ular taIlor, Karan Vadehra oI Vadehra
TaIlors In Connaught Place. He would
have hImselI measured wherever he was
comIortable, at tImes In the waItIng area
at hIs resIdence. Va}payee had a sImIlar
routIne. The only personVa}payee would
go to was hIs dentIst at Khan Market
because the dentIst`s chaIr could not be
brought to 7 RCR, says Harsh ShrIvastava
who was Va}payee`s deputy speech wrIter.
K
eepIng 7 RCR IunctIonIng eIIIcIently
requIres an army oI workers. BesIdes
the secretarIal staII, It has a support staII
oI about 50 gardeners, peons and electrI
cIans. Theyare employedaIter a thorough
backgroundcheck. All those whohave an
SPG pass Ior 3 RCR have to go through an
even more detaIled background check,
IncludIng polIce verIIIcatIon and ques
tIonIng oI theIr Iormer employers,
neIghbours and landlords. ThIs
applIes Ior everyone, not }ust
the support staII, says
ShrIvastava. There are noquarters
on the premIses. StaII comes In
every day and leaves aIter the day Is
over. Some oI the staII here has been
aroundIor decades. These are people who
can be trusted to go about theIr }obs wIth
theIr lIps sealed. One such person was
VI}ayKumar, a researchassIstant whohad
been at 7 RCR Irom the tIme oI H Y
Sharada Prasad, the medIa advIser to
IndIra GandhI and Ra}Iv GandhI. Kumar
dIed recently, says Baru.
There Is, oI course, the personal staII
whIch the prIme mInIster or hIs IamIly
pIcks -the cook, assIstant and some sec
retarIes Ior conIIdentIal work. ThIs Is the
only staII than can be hIred and IIred by
the prIme mInIster or hIs IamIly. One such
IncIdent dId take place durIng SIngh`s
tenure when Gursharan Kaur IIred a cook
Ior servIng chuputi wIth ghcc and some
IrIed Iood to SIngh agaInst the doctor`s
orders. FamIly meals are the way they are
In any household: regular Iood and regu
lar crockery and cutlery. But elaborate
oIIIcIal events are when the IInest Is
revealed. One oI SIngh`s relatIves who
attended an oIIIcIal lunch recalls that the
cutlery was embossed wIth the Ashoka
Chakra. I really wanted to IlIck one Ior
keeps, he says.
The last tIme 7 RCR underwent large
scale renovatIon was In 2004, beIore
SInghmovedIn. It hadcost 7 crore toren
ovate hIs bungalow. Work Is on agaIn
beIore ModI moves In. One vIewIs that he
wIll convert one oI the bungalows Into
space Ior hIs publIc relatIons team.
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0verooIIh RashlrapalI 8havahIs
lhe prIme mIhIsler's oIce IhSoulh
8ocI. Ihe 20-roomoIce Is
equIppedwIlhsophIslIcaled
commuhIcalIohdevIces, lhouhIl Is
ohy howlhal Il Is ellIh a al-
screehIV. Ihe prIme mIhIsler's
chamber, acorher room, has coohIa
urhIlure. Ihe vIsIlor's roomIs
cIrcuar wIlheeahl pasle reeh
uphoslery ohlhe soas ahda
cIrcuar dome paIhledIhl927. Ihe
paIhledpahes o lhIs ceIIh depIcl
lhe our phase o ahIhdIvIdua's Ie
Ihlhe IIhduushrumsyslem:
bruhmurhuryu, grhusIhu,
vunuprusIhuahdsunyusu. LIIe 7
RCR, R6HAoahs arlworIs lo be
dIspayedhere.
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