'Never dreamed of becoming PM': Narendra Modi speaks on lessons learnt at his father's tea stall in Humans of Bombay post

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a post on the Humans of Bombay Facebook page —  a photoblog (following in the footsteps of Humans of New York) which captures the lives of people in Mumbai and which invites common people and celebrities to share moving and inspiring stories — opened up about his childhood and the lessons learnt at his father’s tea stall.

Modi spoke of how his family of eight lived in a house no bigger than 40x12 feet, but how it was enough for them. He recalled how his days began around 5 am, when his mother would provide traditional forms of curing and healing to newborns and small children. The prime minister remembered how he and his brother would take turns keeping the chula going for his mother to use. Modi spoke of how his mother didn’t have the fortune of receiving an education, but said God was kind and that she had a special way of curing ailments. He said mothers would line up outside his home every morning because his mother was known for her healing touch. “Then, I would open my father’s tea stall at the railway station, clean up and head off to school,” Modi said. “As soon as school ended, I would rush back to help him, but what I really looked forward to was meeting people from all over the country. I would serve them tea and listen to their stories: that’s how I learnt to speak Hindi. I would hear some traders speak about ‘Bambai’ and wonder, ‘Will I ever get to see the city of dreams?’” Modi said he was always curious, and that he would go to the library and read everything he could get his hands on. He remembered being eight years old when he attended his first RSS meet. He further said that he was nine when he was part of an effort for the betterment of others’ lives: setting up a food stall with his friends to help victims of Gujarat floods. He remembered wanting to do more even as he was aware that his family had little means. “Still, even at that age, I strongly believed that God has made us all alike. It didn’t matter what circumstances I was born into, I could be something more. So when you ask me, what my struggles were, I’ll tell you that I had none. I came from nothing, I knew no luxury and hadn’t seen a ‘better’ life, so in my small world… I was happy,” Modi added. Modi said if the way was difficult, he made his own way. He also said that he had a great need to look sharp and groomed. He spoke of how since his family couldn’t afford an iron, he would heat some coal, use an old ‘lota’, wrap a cloth around it and press his clothes. Modi added: “The effect was the same, so why complain?” “This was the beginning of everything that I am today and I didn’t even know it at the time. So if you ask the 8-year-old Narendra Modi, running around serving chai and cleaning his father’s tea stall, whether he even dared to dream about becoming the Prime Minister of India, his answer would be no. Never. It was too far to even think about.”