Life as Bahrain's first lady of India

Bubbling with ideas and teeming with positive energy, Mala Mohan Kumar, the first lady of the Indian community in Bahrain, is gearing up for a major showcase of Indian culture, art and traditions.

A newcomer to the Middle East, she arrived on the island two months ago with her husband, Indian ambassador to Bahrain, Mohan Kumar ... and today the flags will be flying to celebrate the 61st anniversary of her nation's Republic Day when its constitution was adopted.

It is Mrs Kumar's first stint as an ambassador's wife and she is taking up the challenge with enthusiasm.

Along with decorating her new home and decking it up with her favourite traditional Indian Madhubani and Pichwai paintings and collections of miniatures from around the world, she has already been to several community and diplomatic gatherings, visited Sneha Recreational Centre (Sneha) and the Al Bader Trading Company's labour camp in Salmabad.

Originally from Coimbatore, Mrs Kumar, 47, is a professional English teacher and is fluent in French and speaks a smattering of Serbian. Her talents include singing old melodies, a gift inherited from her late father, MA Padmanabhan who was a Hindustani classical musician and mother, Kamala, who has sung professionally with famed Carnatic musicians in Chennai.

Speaking from India House, in Saar, she said: "I think Bahrain is a very good first ambassadorial posting because we have a huge Indian community here.

"I am really happy doing things that do not involve just the glamorous side of the job. What really interests me here is what the Indian Ladies Association (ILA) is doing. I am very happy to be part of it. I was touched by the children at Sneha who had put up an annual day function. I will be visiting them at the centre soon.

"Being a teacher I am going to be involved in the literacy programme run by ILA and I would like to volunteer and help fill out passports at the embassy.

"The visit to the labour camp was also very interesting. They invited me and I was happy to speak to them because I know that my husband is also dealing with workers' issues. I wanted to see the conditions in which they live and work.

"This particular camp was very well maintained and I want to see one which is not as glorious. They said that they are very well looked after and seemed to be well treated.

"In many ways it is the best time of my life because I am now in a position to do the things I always wanted to do like project India's culture and heritage.

"But, from a family point of view and a sentimental point of view it is rather sad because I do not have my children here, and I will be very disappointed if I have to give up my teaching altogether."

The couple have two children, daughter Megha, 24, and Madhav, 18, who are based in Canada. The elder one is working as a copywriter with an Australian advertising agency in Toronto and their son is on his first year of his undergraduate studies at University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Mrs Kumar has accompanied her husband to Paris, Colombo, Geneva, Belgrade in Serbia, Kinshasa in Congo and Rabat in Morocco. At all the postings she has been occupied in either teaching English to children in international schools or adults in language schools.

She says her teaching experience was an excellent opportunity to get closely associated with the community.

Mrs Kumar said: "Teaching is very enriching because I am very passionate about my work and I can also get to know the local people and their culture.

"I am not worried or fazed by awkward questions. My French students were keen to know about India's dowry and caste system and I was happy to clear their doubts and also tell them how we are tackling our social issues.

"I would also like to know Bahrain better. I hope to explore a bit more of my spiritual side and do yoga. I believe there is no end to learning. I would like to evolve and grow and appreciate new things and ideas and even learn a very basic thing like swimming.

"I hope to catch up on my reading in Bahrain ... it looks like the perfect place for that.

"I am very house proud and I like entertaining. Cooking used to be my passion but everyone is on a health fad now.

"Most importantly, I would like to bring a closer relationship on the cultural and artistic level between Bahrain and India - get some good designers and artists to come here and showcase our handicrafts and paintings. It requires a lot of networking and contacts. It is not going to be easy but it is not impossible."

At the same time she believes that while Indians in Bahrain must celebrate their cultural and religious diversity, they must take pride in being an Indian first.

In a message to her fellow countrymen, she said: "While we have many different communities here what I think we need is a cohesive Indian community.

"India is full of religious and cultural diversities and I appreciate that, but I also like what Shah Rukh Khan (the famous Indian actor) said: 'I am an Indian first and then a Muslim'. We have to project India proudly and as one community not just as a Malayalee or a Tamil or a Sikh. We are Indians first and everything else comes later."

AMBASSADOR SPEAK

MOHAN Kumar, India's ambassador to Bahrain, is a writer and vocalist, who wooed his wife of 28 years with his straightforwardness, simplicity and honesty.

On their introductory meeting, arranged by the couple's parents, he happily broke tradition to join his wife to sing a song, a custom that is generally reserved for the girl to show off her talents to the prospective groom and family.

From a family of teachers, the career diplomat from Madurai in Tamil Nadu also nurtures a love of teaching. He is currently pursuing a PhD in international trade with a special focus on India's policy with regards to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a French university in Paris called Sciences Po, a well-known institute for higher political science.

As a writer, he has contributed several articles and written a monograph on intellectual property rights for UNCTAD publications, contributed articles in several books - Reform and Development of the WTO Dispute Settlement System, The Role of the Chairman of the WTO Negotiations, Economic Diplomacy and Indian Foreign Policy: Challenges and Opportunities.

An MBA in marketing and finance, Mr Kumar, 53, is fluent in French and has spent almost a decade as India's negotiator at the WTO and is an expert in international trade.

He is also among the diplomats whose private conversation with his US counterparts recently featured in the controversial WikiLeaks exposure.

Calling it a huge surprise, Mr Kumar, who is on his first posting as Ambassador, believes that WikiLeaks will change the face of diplomacy around the world.

He said: "The whole phenomenon of WikiLeaks was hugely surprising for a diplomat. I think it will change how we behave ... even with each other. People will become more careful of what they say in public and in private and communications will also become more secure."

On a first time assignment to the Middle East, Mr Kumar says that he has been surprised and overwhelmed by the welcome he has received here. "I haven't been to the Gulf before, but it is a very important region for India.

"The actual experience of living in the Gulf is not different to what I have heard from people before. But, what has surprised me is the enormous variety I see even in the Indian expatriate community. Another amazing aspect I have discovered is these ladies who come and help people fill out passport forms for absolutely nothing ... they amaze me and I cannot imagine a community that is so capable of self help.

"Also surprising has been the kind of goodwill that India enjoys here. I expected India to have goodwill but every Bahraini interlocutor telling me that your community is a model community is simply amazing."

The new ambassador said his focus is largely two-fold and will be centred on improving community relations and trade relations between the two countries. Getting the plan and construction of the new embassy premises in Seef rolling are also among his priorities.

"My approach to community relations is to continue what is working well," he said. "The insurance scheme is working well and I am trying to get involved in a campaign to request every Indian here to insure his vehicle with New India Assurance because automatically a part of his contribution will be added to the insurance scheme.

"I am also asking the LIC to partner with New India Assurance and extend the scheme from just death by heat stroke, heart attack and death at the work place to everything.

"The economic, trade, investment front is also an area I would like to focus upon along with taking the political relations to the next level.

"Bahrain should not be seen as a country in itself, it should be seen as the gateway to the Gulf - a staging point for GCC."

Saying that diplomacy is 'hugely exciting' he also urged young Indians to consider Foreign Services as a career. He said: "In the early 80s Indian diplomats had to shout to be heard. Today India has arrived. There hasn't been a better time to represent India.

"We are a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and in the last two months received the leaders of UK, US, France, China and Russia. These visits by themselves are not everything but they are important. We have several challenges but it is fantastic to be an Indian diplomat today."

Before Bahrain, Mr Kumar was India's deputy chief of mission in France, External Affairs Ministry joint secretary in New Delhi, deputy high commissioner in Colombo, Sri Lanka, counsellor at India's permanent mission to the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland, counsellor and charge d'affaires at the Indian Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, second secretary and first secretary in Kinshasa, Congo, and second secretary in Rabat, Morocco.