Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an interview to American computer scientist and podcast host Lex Fridman on Sunday (March 16). During the discussion, Modi spoke on various topics, including his childhood. He revealed that he grew up in extreme poverty and did not even have shoes to wear to school.
“One day, my uncle saw me going to school barefoot and was surprised. He then bought me a pair of shoes,” Modi recalled, adding that he took great care of those shoes.
“My childhood was spent in extreme poverty, but we never felt burdened by it. If someone who is used to wearing good shoes suddenly loses them, they will feel the absence. But in our case, we had never worn shoes in our early years,” he explained.
Talking about his uncle’s gesture, Modi said, “I was on my way to school when I ran into my uncle. He was shocked and asked, ‘Do you go to school like this?’ He then bought me a pair of white canvas shoes, which cost around 10 to 12 rupees at the time. But the issue was that white shoes got dirty easily.”
Worried about keeping his shoes clean, Modi came up with a solution. “After school, I would stay back and collect pieces of chalk from the classrooms. I would mix them with water to create a paste and apply it to my canvas shoes. This made them bright white again,” he said.
He also shared how he ironed his school clothes without an iron. “Since we didn’t have an iron, I would heat a copper pot and press my clothes with it,” Modi revealed, adding that his mother valued cleanliness, a habit he adopted from her.
Despite their hardships, Modi said he never dwelled on poverty. “We always enjoyed whatever we had, so we never thought much about our struggles,” he concluded.