Global financier and philanthropist George Soros, who chairs a network of foundations that promote, among other things, the creation of open, democratic societies, flew into Chandigarh to meet 100-year-old Fori Nehru, wife of the late B K Nehru, one of India’s most distinguished civil servants. Soros and Fori, both born in Hungary, have been exchanging correspondence over the years.

After retirement, B K Nehru — a cousin of Indira Gandhi, he was Ambassador to the United States in the late 1950s and nearly succeeded Dag Hammarskjold as United Nations Secretary General — settled in Kasauli with Fori. He died in 2001 but Fori, who is called Shobha Aunty by all who know her, stayed put in the Kasauli bungalow.

The meeting between Soros and Fori was arranged at her son Anil Nehru’s residence in Sector 9, Chandigarh. Soros reached Chandigarh at 2 pm, flying in from Delhi on a chartered Kingfisher plane. Anil was there at the airport to receive him and they headed straight to the Sector 9 house. Soros left for Delhi at 5 pm, boarding the same plane.

When contacted, Anil Nehru said: “This is a personal visit and no family member, including my mother, has anything to say on this.” The staff accompanying Soros too refused to discuss the meeting.

Born in Hungary, Fori moved to India in the 1930s after her marriage. She celebrated her 100th birthday last December.

Her correspondence with Winston Churchill’s biographer Martin Gilbert, in which he explained to her the history of Jews, was later published as Letters to Auntie Fori: 5000 years of Jewish History.