It was February 1972 and I was one among the thousands gathered at Municipal stadium of Vishakhapatnam to listen to Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi our then Prime Minister of India and a central figure of the Indian National Congress . We didn't wait much as the lady came on the dais to deliver her speech as per the schedule. She started her speech in her characteristic voice and style but in chaste Hindi. I wondered, how many people in that huge gathering would understand even a single sentence of her speech in Hindi as I knew there were hardly any Hindi speaking citizens at Vizag those days. But, I was pleasantly surprised, the moment she gave a pause during her long speech which was being delivered ad-lib and impromptu I saw it was being translated by a simple looking person and to my amazement, even better than the original speech withing seconds of it being spoken. I was curious to know, who could be that charismatic person who was translating the purest form of Hindi into purest form of Telugu within seconds. People told me the gentleman's name is P V Narasimha Rao and he is a lawyer, politician and a freedom fighter. Those days, I used to love Priyadarshini as my idol, but after meeting Sri PV Narasimha Rao, I felt, she was nothing compared to PV Narasimha Rao. Incidentally, I met a person on Facebook a few years ago and after meeting her, I felt, Mr PV Narasimha Rao is nothing in front of her and her name is Archna Pant. I know Mr PV Narasimha Rao could speak seventeen languages, but my friend Archna Pant can speak and write three languages Hindi, English and Urdu which nobody can emulate.
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