Janak Raj Jai  recounts several unknown incidents in the life of First Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru in his book “Strokes on Law and Democracy in India”.  Jai served Nehru and later was then inIndira Gandhi’s office before  becoming her fierce critic.
Below are few such anecdotes from his book
– When Amitabh Bachchan wanted a job, he came to Indira Gandhi, who told Jai to write a letter to West Bengal governor Padmaja Naidu “requesting her to fix Amitabh in some suitable place. This is how Amitabh got his first job in Calcutta”.
– Jawaharlal Nehru made “the biggest mistake” of asking M.O. Mathai to narrow down the differences between Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. “Mathai was not sincere in this effort and so (the couple) maintained distance from each other.”
– Then defence minister V.K. Krishna Menon would hit his driver’s legs with a stick if he drove his car slowly.
– Indira Gandhi prevented S. Radhakrishnan from becoming the president for a second term by quietly propping up Zakir Hussain. “This is how Gandhi betrayed Radhakrishnan, her patron saint who trained her as prime minister of India.”
– Once when Nehru was going to his office, his car suffered a puncture near South Avenue in Delhi. A taxi driver who witnessed this rushed to Nehru and asked him to board his taxi, which Nehru did to reach his office. Nehru had no money to pay for the taxi but the driver didn’t mind.
– An elderly couple from Lado Sarai in south Delhi once came to Nehru’s residence with a bucket of milk, and insisted that he taste it. He obliged them.
– Nehru asked his barber, a Muslim, if he wanted anything from London. The barber said: “Sir, sometimes I come late because I have no watch. If I can have a watch, it will be very good.” Nehru bought a watch for him from London.