Diplomats tend to be pleasantly discreet and concentrate on serving their governments. So readers may not necessarily know the career histories of diplomats since public encounters tend to focus on the present.
Dr Paul gave The Asian Voice some of his fascinating backstory in interview in his India House office.
Prior to his assignment as Deputy High Commissioner of India in London, Dr Paul was Minister (Press) at the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. He held diplomatic assignments in Indian Missions in Almaty, Vladivostok, Rome, St. Petersburg and Moscow, spending around eight to nine years in the former Soviet space.
At the Headquarters, Dr Paul served in the East Europe and Americas Divisions. He served as Director in the Prime Minister’s Office during the period 2007-2010.
He holds a medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. His ancestral home is Jalandhar.
Soon after 1991, Dr Paul was in the former Soviet states during their transformation into independent republics, witnessing their readjustment as sovereign countries in the post Cold War scenario.
He found the Russians knowledgeable about India and Indian culture, with a fondness for Raj Kapoor and other Indian film actors. Indian movies were popular. It was common to see Indian films being sold on VHS.
After a couple of years in Almaty (Kazakhstan), where he learnt Russian, he was posted to Vladivostok as the Consul General of India. The area of his jurisdiction included Far East Russia, east of the Siberian Lake Baikal and the vast tundra and taiga belts. He travelled far, meeting people inside and outside the government to talk about India.
Virander remembers Russians as warm, friendly and hospitable. On one occasion, he was invited to Yakutia, a diamond mining region in northern Russia. It was December, the temperature was minus 40 degrees, and the local government officials had come to greet him at the airport.
He recalls that as he stepped down from his aircraft, freezing cold, the local administration, unasked, presented him with an appropriately warm hat to replace his own normal Russian one, and an overcoat and winter shoes to put on before escorting him to the terminal. His hosts had known that their Indian guest might not be fully prepared for the Yakutian frost.
Even when Virander was back in Delhi, he continued working on India’s relations with East European countries. “It was a steady transition and an interesting time,” he recalled; “we in the ministry were engaging those friendly states in a new international situation.”
As part of the team in the Foreign Ministry, Dr Paul contributed to India redefining its relations with the former Soviet states. On returning to the region after a gap of over five years, he observed that the new nations, including the Russian Federation, had grown in confidence as well as in living standards.
“Russia is a country with which we have traditionally had strong relations,” he commented.
After a short stint as Director (Americas) in the Ministry, Virander moved to the Prime Minister’s Office, where he handled India’s relations with the West, besides being involved in work relating to atomic energy, outer space and defence. Readers with knowledge of recent Indo-US relations will naturally understand the issues he must have handled.
In Washington, Virander was Minister for press and information and culture. The work of two departments, effectively.
“Relations between India and the US were undergoing a rapid and radical transformation for the good,” he explained.
It was constantly hectic, but fun. His work included interacting with think tanks, academics and the media.
“I enjoyed myself, professionally, meeting key journalists, including from the Washington Post, NYT, The LA Times, Time, and the CNN Bureau,” he recalled. He also fondly recalls his close interaction with the Indian journalists stationed in Washington.
He noticed that Indians in America tended to take on an American identity which is relatively businesslike; “America is a country where most young Indian professionals get absorbed into the American way,” he mused. “Of course, they are also mindful of their Indian roots”, he added.
But in the UK, Dr Paul relishes in the diaspora’s Indian heart that he finds beating strong and loud. He feels that the British Indian community retains its Indian essence of warmth, its feeling for fellow Indians, and its character.
“London is a city where you can smell the Indianness, if there is such a word, in the air,” Dr Paul remarked. “London is wonderful as it is perhaps the most cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic city.”
The Deputy High Commissioner is generally given an even more critical government role when he leaves the capital. Given his sparkling career to date, it will be interesting to see what India plans next for Dr Virander Paul.
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“London is a city where you can smell the Indianness in the air,” Dr Virander Paul.
