Your son has lived in the US since he was 16. He must be very American in his outlook?
No, he is an Indian. He is an American, no doubt, and has joined the main flow. He did not have to assert himself to pick up things like an accent. As you go along in your life you come across various things. You absorb some and some you don't.
His citizenship is American. But childhood impacts are very Indian.
He was brought up in a very traditional Maharashtrian manner. He speaks Marathi always. And Gujarati, English, Hindi.
Ours is a very big family. Every year we find some reason to meet. There is always a family gathering around the time Vikram comes to India. It has to be. This is the family which is behind him. About 50 Pandits live in Nagpur. Another 25 or so are scattered. You can expect 50 Pandits at a wedding and 25 at a gathering.(The Pandits have great respect for Shri Gajanan Maharaj, a saint whose shrine is in Shegaon, eastern Maharashtra. The entire family goes there for pilgrimages, as does Vikram when he is in India.)
Vikram comes to India every winter during the seven or eight days of Christmas. His children Rahul (15) and Maya (13) want to spend it in India.
And he comes in the (US) summer depending on the date of the Ganpati festival. It should coincide with the children's vacation.
Vikram's children also speak Marathi and know all our Indian prayers. They like Indian food. They are truly Indian. They like India. I was speaking to Rahul on the phone the other day and he wanted to know when the next family get together was. I said when you come here you end up sleeping for two days because of jet lag. He said, 'At least I am sleeping in an Indian bed.'
What does your daughter-in-law Swati do? (Vikram is married to Swati, nee Sathaye, who grew up in Monte Carlo, Singapore and Kolkata. She is the daughter of a hydrographer, who now lives in Pune. It was an arranged match; Shankar Pandit says proudly: "We don't believe in love marriages.")
Swati is a housewife. My son told her not to work because if you work, from whatever you earn, 50 percent will go in taxes and rest 50 percent will go in housemaids; very practical.
Photograph: Shankar B Pandit readies himself for a television interview in his Navi Mumbai home.
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