Gabe Menezes,

Thanks for your indepth reading of the link provided. 
Many for some reason do not give a complete picture. 
Usually I wouldn't touch up on some subjects
originating from a particular patrakar, but am making
an exception, in years.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Goa university be also
be named as Rahul Gandhi university (as the Goa
Medical College has been named in lieu of getting the
statehood for Goa speeded up by the father (as is
claimed!) !!

Pls note that often I have found that Goans on this
mailing list spell Gandhi as Ghandi.  Any particular
reason for this. If pronounced in India's national
language Hindi, it gives a bad meaning !!!

Also instead of just forwarding the url, the whole
text be published. For example, the following url has
a lot to say, but how many on this will browse through
the same (after clicking the link/url)?

Hence, here is the text.  I would appreciate that this
complete email be posted as is:

Rahul Gandhi is the latest in the Gandhi-Nehru family
to enter electoral politics, but beyond the fact that
he is the son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and
the late Rajiv Gandhi, how much do you really know
about him?

Not many do actually -- not the voters in Amethi and
elsewhere, not his party cadre, or even senior
Congress leaders. The few who have met him don't
recall him saying much. The few who have heard him,
say he is of a shy disposition.

So here's all you wanted to know about Rahul Gandhi,
and didn't know who/where to ask.

How old is Rahul Gandhi?

Soon to be 34. Date of birth: June 19, 1970. That
makes him a Gemini, and if you believe astrologers,
this is what he is like: 'Communicator. Social,
outgoing. Sees and blends opposites/both sides of an
issue. Vivacious, quick, flexible, versatile, lively
and changeable. Mentally ambitious.'

Which school did he go to?

His elementary and primary schooling was at Modern
School, New Delhi. But because it was the height of
Punjab terrorism (in October 1984, his grandmother,
then prime minister Indira Gandhi, was shot dead by
her Sikh bodyguards, and the family continues to live
under a security blanket), Rahul and younger sibling
Priyanka were mostly taught at home.

Unlike father Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul did not go to Doon
School.

So did Rahul go to college in India at all?

He went to St Stephen's College, Delhi, for a year. He
enrolled for history honours in 1989 and left in 1990.
But here's the most interesting part: he was not
admitted to St Stephen's on merit, but from the sports
quota.

Really? So what sport was he good at?

He is good in rifle shooting, trap shooting being his
speciality.

Like Anjali Bhagwat, you mean? So did he win any
medals etc? Does he still shoot?

No, not a great shooter like Anjali; but like Rajiv
Gandhi he trained at a shooting range in the Aravalli
ranges near Delhi. He does not shoot these days.

Was Rahul any good at studies while at St Stephen's?

His academic performance is unknown, as Rahul did not
complete his degree.

But Dr Anil Wilson, the principal of St Stephen's
College, recalls him as a diligent student. "He had no
airs about the famous family he belonged to," says Dr
Wilson. 

Rahul's security cover must always have been stifling,
right? Also, celebrity children wear their parents'
fame prominently. Was Rahul one of those Delhi kids?

Apparently not! Rahul was always embarrassed by the
security cover the college was under because of him,
is what Dr Wilson has to say: "I think he left college
because of security concerns. We really did not get an
opportunity to assess his academic brilliance." 

So was it sayonara to studies for Rahul after that?

No. He went to the United States in 1990, to study
economics at Harvard University.

Great! So did he complete his studies in Harvard?

A little bit of confusion there. He did complete the
four-year AB course in economics, but did not get his
degree since he did not get the required grades.

And here, may we point out that Rahul's dad, Rajiv
Gandhi, did not complete his studies at Cambridge?
Neither did his grandma Indira Gandhi at Oxford's
Somerville College. But did the absence of a degree
interfere with the late Mrs Gandhi's leadership
abilities? We think not!

So between leaving Harvard and fighting the Lok Sabha
election, what has he been doing?

Nothing really. An acquaintance of Rahul says, "He is
a man of apparently no occupation." After Harvard,
Rahul shifted base to London and worked as a financial
consultant but even that is a bit unclear. Some say he
worked as a manager in a financial consulting agency,
the name of which is not known. But Congress leaders
who know Rahul disclose that "he was whiling away time
in Britain and the US."

Sounds so much like P G Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster!

In 1999 he kicked up his job to help mother Sonia
Gandhi and sister Priyanka during that year's Lok
Sabha election. Congress leaders say Sonia has been
politically grooming Rahul over the last five years,
and that she has now "initiated him into politics,
fulltime."

So he has been based in Delhi since 1999?

Yes, he has been living in Delhi for the past five
years. But unlike his rather flamboyant sister
Priyanka, he has always kept a low profile.

Is Rahul married? There were some reports about a
foreign girlfriend.

No, he is not married, but you are right, he has a
Colombian girlfriend, Juanita.

So where and how did he meet her? Are they just good
friends, or is it more serious?

Congress leaders in the know say he fell in love with
Juanita at Harvard. She is the daughter of a Colombian
businessman. She is said to be spending a lot of time
in Delhi these days. Rahul traveled with her to
Kerala's Kumarakom backwaters resort in January -- in
the company of sister Priyanka and her husband Robert
Vadra, so we guess the family is cool about the
relationship.

But she does not stay at 10 Janpath, the Gandhis' home
while in Delhi. Sources say she stays at the family
farmhouse on the outskirts of Delhi.

Now back to politics. What do Congressmen think is
Rahul's USP?

His looks. They say he resembles his late father. In
fact, when he toured Amethi in January in the company
of sister Priyanka, the villagers apparently went
berserk over the resemblance to his late father.

And where was Rahul last seen in public?

In Karachi on March 13, at the India-Pakistan one-day
game, on invitation from the Pakistan Cricket Board.
His sister and brother-in-law were also with him. And
no, Juanita was not there.

With inputs from Onkar Singh and R Swaminathan

Photographs: AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images

Image: Dominic Xavier
--- 

AlmeidaG(ji)


On 22/04/05, Frederick Noronha (FN)
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> St Stephen's turns 125, plans bash

RESPONSE: One of St. Stephens old boys was Rahul
Ghandi.....

http://in.rediff.com/election/2004/mar/23espec1.htm
...............
So did Rahul go to college in India at all?

He went to St Stephen's College, Delhi, for a year. He
enrolled for history honours in 1989 and left in 1990.
But here's the most interesting part: he was not
admitted to St Stephen's on merit, but from the sports
quota.

Really? So what sport was he good at?

He is good in rifle shooting, trap shooting being his
speciality.

Like Anjali Bhagwat, you mean? So did he win any
medals etc? Does he still shoot?

No, not a great shooter like Anjali; but like Rajiv
Gandhi he trained at a shooting range in the Aravalli
ranges near Delhi. He does not shoot these days.

Was Rahul any good at studies while at St Stephen's?

His academic performance is unknown, as Rahul did not
complete his degree.

But Dr Anil Wilson, the principal of St Stephen's
College, recalls him as a diligent student. "He had no
airs about the famous family he belonged to," says Dr
Wilson.

Rahul's security cover must always have been stifling,
right? Also, celebrity children wear their parents'
fame prominently. Was Rahul one of those Delhi kids?

Apparently not! Rahul was always embarrassed by the
security cover the college was under because of him,
is what Dr Wilson has to say: "I think he left college
because of security concerns. We really did not
get an opportunity to assess his academic brilliance."

So was it sayonara to studies for Rahul after that?

No. He went to the United States in 1990, to study
economics at Harvard University.

Great! So did he complete his studies in Harvard?

A little bit of confusion there. He did complete the
four-year AB course in economics, but did not get his
degree since he did not get the required
grades..................

Cheers,

Gabe Menezes.
London, England

UPCOMING EVENTS IN KUWAIT:

MAY BALL 2005
Organized by Goan Welfare Society (GWS)-Kuwait
Date: 12th May 2005, Venue: Safir Palace Hotel, Riggea
Band: Stepping Stones  Highlights: Crowning of the MAY QUEEN 2005.
Enjoy the Goan hospitality at its best.

MARIO DE MAJORDA's KONKANI DRAMA "CHUKLELIM PANVLAM" 
Presented by FERNS BROTHERS.
Date: 24th June 2005, Venue: Hawalli A/C. Auditorium.

KONKANI MUSICAL SHOW "Tum Voir Aum Sokol" - A Rip-Roaring Comedy
Blockbuster.  Cast: Formidable artistes from Goa, Mumbai and Kuwait.
Date: 9th Sept. 2005   Venue: Hawalli A/C. Auditorium
Written & Directed by Kuwait's Konkani Comedian Philip.


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