No, no. In all these capacities, there was a clear understanding that I was there for a specific task: to relook at and make recommendations on new methods, new structures of managing defence, and when that task was over I would go back. And I should say it here without reservation that one of the finest people I have ever worked with was Mr Jaswant Singh. Mr Jaswant Singh is a BJP man. I hold no love for his party, I do not share any of their ideologies but I worked for him for nearly two-and-a-half years...

• At a minimal salary...

At a minimal salary. And he was gentleman enough never once to raise politics with me. And I’ll never forget that.

• Did you ever raise politics with him, for example when Gujarat happened?

I had left by that time. By the time Gujarat happened we had become friends. He was not a friend when I first went there. We knew each other, we were acquaintances. When Gujarat happened we were friends. I was incensed then, and I am incensed now at what in some form or fashion continues to take place in our country, and I did voice my concern to him. But I also realized it was his party, and it had to deal with it in their own way, and the government of India had to deal with it in its own way. But I did voice my concern.

• Going back to Rajiv’s time: one of his memorable lines was, ‘We are the Beatles generation.’ He counted you in that generation, right? The thing about the Beatles generation is it never gets old. So what do you see happening with yourself, what do you see yourself doing?

... contd.