And as his tryst continued, Gujral’s experiences also inspired his children to follow creative pursuits. While son Mohit is a renowned architect, daughter Alpana took to jewellery designing and the youngest Raseel is an interior designer. “They were brought up in an environment dominated by art and the choices were natural,” says the doting father. “They are all doing well,” chips in Kiran, as Gujral’s eyes light up when one mentions the Navratna Haar that he designed with Alpana for an exhibition last year. “Both of us were equally involved in the conceptualisation,” he points out.

The familial talk is not complete without any reference to Inder Gujral, the former prime minister and to Satish his elder brother. “He has been a constant support,” asserts Gujral. The excitement is palatable, as he goes down memory lane to recall how Inder typed out a list of dos and don’ts on how to behave in western society, when Satish was embarking on a voyage to Mexico on a scholarship in 1952. “He told me to clean the bathroom and to save money by renting a room without a bathroom, because the ones with bathroom were expensive,” he quips, adding, “I followed every instruction.”

There was advice about love too. When Satish posted a letter to Inder expressing the desire to marry a girl whom he had met on the ship, the elder brother simply wrote back saying, “Romances developed on a ship don’t last the voyage”. “He was right,” smiles Satish. His romance with art, however, lasted a lifetime. “The day I stop spending time on art I’ll die,” he states. Wife Kiran makes the slight correction, as she says, “He will want to die.”