Why these 3 US presidents will always have a presence in Delhi

Even as America is going to vote on the forthcoming November 5 to elect its next President, there is something to cheer about: we have the presence of three American Presidents in the capital. Yes, we are not joking. Do you know that two US presidents, Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy, are there in Rashtrapati Bhavan in some form, and there is a presence of President Franklin D Roosevelt in the American Embassy?

Kennedy never visited India while living in the White House. But there is a symbol in the Amrit Udyan (formerly Mughal Garden) of Rashtrapati Bhawan that spreads his fragrance. A species of rose flower named after Kennedy was developed by the gardeners there after his assassination in 1963. If you ever go to the Amrit Udyan, also take a look at the beautiful flower beds of roses named after Kennedy, which are like Kennedy’s sweet smile. You will like it.

After seeing the Kennedy rose, there is also a rose species named after the 16th US President, Lincoln, in the same Amrit Udyan. This means that two great US presidents are permanently present in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Well, Kennedy was supposed to visit India on a state visit in early 1964. Then, he was scheduled to see the newly built US Embassy building. Alas, he was assassinated before his India trip.

Whether the US President becomes Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, another US President, Roosevelt, too has a presence here. The residence of the ambassador in the American Embassy is called the “Roosevelt House.” The US ambassador invites personalities from art, literature, science, and other fields to the Roosevelt House.

“I have attended a couple of functions at the Roosevelt House in the past. It is always attended by the most important people of India,” says A Kumar, a senior Delhi-based journalist.

Gandhi and Roosevelt

Roosevelt also never visited India. He was serious about India’s independence. On July 1, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi wrote him a letter, asking him to immediately remove British rule from India. Louis Fischer, Gandhi’s biographer, took this letter to President Roosevelt. Roosevelt replied to Gandhiji on August 1, 1942. Gandhi wrote the letter so that Roosevelt would use his influence to help India gain independence. Roosevelt later even told British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to grant India independence.

Meanwhile, you would come across Joseph Stein Lane near the India International Center (IIC). Stein was an American architect who moved to India in the 1950s. He was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s personality. His first two major and important projects in the capital, Delhi, were the IIC and the Triveni Kala Sangam. The government allocated land for Triveni Kala Sangam in 1956.

Vidya Ben Shah, a social worker, and Sundari Shridharani, an artist and a disciple of the great dance guru Uday Shankar, wanted those who were interested in music, dance, and painting in the capital to sit under one roof and learn these arts. Then both of them met Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. On Nehru’s instructions, land was allotted. This story was narrated to me by Vidhya Ben herself a couple of years ago. “The responsibility of designing the building of Triveni Kala Sangam was given to Stein. He had already prepared the amazing design of the IIC. It has got plenty of space for jali work. There are jali works in the IIC too. Stein Sahib focused on landscaping. That’s why you’ll find Triveni’s landscaping a little different,” Vidhya Ben told this correspondent.

The great architect

Stein did not only design buildings in the capital. In 1968, he, along with Garrett Eckbo, a great landscape architect from America, redesigned Lodhi Garden. They gave Lodhi Garden new and improved tracks and planted new species of trees and flowers. Both of them ensured that flowers are planted around important monuments located in Lodi Garden so that visitors, while watching the monuments, can also be refreshed by the fragrance of flowers. Stein also designed the American School and the Australian School located in Chanakyapuri. He lived in Sundar Nagar. Stein passed away in 2002.

The US embassy

Arguably, America’s most special symbol in Delhi is its Embassy. The great architect Frank Lloyd Wright said that architecturally, the US Embassy is unique. Its architect was Edward Durell Stone. He was a creative architect. It is built on a massive 27 acres. Kennedy would surely be happy to see it. But unfortunately, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

The American Embassy building does not show extravagance. There is absolutely no flamboyance. This is the identity of American architecture. Looking at Stone’s creation, it seems that he must have seen other major buildings of the British era in Delhi before designing it. That’s why he also includes jali work and balconies in the US Embassy.

The architects of the Edwin Lutyens School used jali work so that sunlight could reach inside the buildings. Stone designed the stairs of the main building of the Embassy in such a way that it feels as if you are walking somewhere. This architecture continues to attract architecture students. While designing the U.S. Embassy, Stone focused a lot on landscaping, keeping in mind the dry climate of the capital. There will be greenery everywhere. There are water bodies in many places. All of these provide coolness to the atmosphere. So, one can safely say that after Stone, Stein had given many key buildings to Delhi.