“WHERE ARE the millions that I am said to have stashed away? Where is the exquisite jewellery that I am said to possess? And look there, they are my Rembrandts,” says Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat , angrily pointing to two nondescript paintings on one of the walls of his single-bedroom home in Colaba here.
Anger and hurt over his integrity being questioned , particularly by the defence minister and the Prime Minister in public, dominates the deposed Admiral’s demeanour and conversation as he comes to terms with life outside Navy House . This probably explains the rhetorical questions that pepper his conversation, as though he half expected us to see evidence of his alleged millions under his living room sofa, exquisite jewellery in his modest bedroom and Rembrandts in his kitchen.
Admiral Bhagwat returned to Mumbai, the city he identifies most with, yesterday. Lutyens’s lush and plush Delhi to downtown Colaba would be a huge comedown for and average person. But then, Admiral Bhagwat is no ordinary person. “Why should it matter? I am from here (Colaba) , I am comfortable here”, he says of his small, middleclass home.
The small hall of his home has been partitioned to make for what he calls his “bedroom”: a 5 by 15 feet passage where he sleeps on the bare floor. No, it is not as though he has overnight been reduced to such penury as not to be able to afford a mattress. “It is just that I like sleeping that way”. A cupboard of books is the only concession to ornamentation in the bedroom. “I love reading … and while we are at it, why don’t you just go through this cupboard where my millions are stashed away”, the Admiral says solemnly. Touch!
The man who headed the Indian Navy till just a fortnight ago does not even have a car for himself today and prefers to take a taxi and walk. “This morning I walked to the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA),” he says with pride, of the approximately 3 km stretch.
Neighbours and well-wishers fear for his safety, particularly since controversy has followed the Admiral like the way the little lamb dogged Mary. Out of office, Bhagwat arguably faces a greater risk to his life than he did when in it. “Yes, my neighbours and friends have asked me about it. But I am an ordinary man. What can I do?”
One little known fact about Bhagwat is that he is a descendent of Mangal Pandey, who went to the gallows fighting for the freedom of the country. “I still have the certificate which was issued when he was hanged,” he says proudly of his lineage.
His wife Niloufer Bhagwat has revived her legal practice. Their son is a serving naval officer and their daughter is a Chennai-based doctor. ” I never gave our children enough time because I was always busy with my office work. ” He dismisses any suggestion of a possibility of his son being victimised because of his own stormy career with a “my children are fighters. Like me.” Clearly, life has changed dramatically since his sacking as Navy chief a little over a fortnight ago. “You don’t worry about me or what I will do. I will manage my life fine”, he bristles at journalists who have been calling him “20 times a day” about his immediate plans.
“Yes, I am writing a book and the book will focus on the first nine months of the Vajpayee government and the problems that I faced. I don’t know whether I will write in long hand…. May be I will employ someone to take dictation,” the dismissed Admiral says, with a wave of his hand.
“And when I call a press conference to say all what I really want to say, I will hold it at Azad Maidan ,” he predicts. Inarguably, Admiral Bhagwat can be sure that the sprawling south Mumbai playground will be choc-a-block full when he does hold his bare-all-tell-all media meet.