Collected Used Chalk To Polish My White Canvas Shoes: PM Modi Tells Lex Fridman

PM Modi Podcast: Prime Minister Narendra Modi , in a conversation with Lex Fridman on his podcast, spoke about his childhood. He fondly remembered anectodes from his past and shared that despite living in hardships, he never felt deprived. He narrated a story from the time his uncle gifted him white canvas shoes and he went to great lengths to keep them new.

Reflecting on his childhood, PM Modi shared that he was born in North Gujarat . He then shared that the village he comes from holds great significance. He recalled, “When I was in school, there was an elder in our village who would regularly tell students, ‘Listen, kids, wherever you go, if you find a carved stone, or you find a stone with inscriptions on it or anything with engravings, bring it and place it in this corner of the school.’ Over time, my curiosity grew and I started to understand. I realized that my village had a rich and ancient history. ” PM Modi recollected how he much later learnt, through a Chinese film, that around the 1400s, the town was a prominent Buddhist educational hub.

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Talking about his family the Prime Minister shared, “When I think about my family, my father, my mother, my siblings, my uncles, aunts, grandparents, we all grew up together in a small house. The place we lived was likely even smaller than where we are sitting now. There was no window, just a small door. That’s where I was born. That’s where I grew up." He then spoke about living in extreme poverty, but it never felt like a hardship to them at the time.

He cited the example of a person who would feel the absence of his shoes, when it is taken away from him. But, he recalled, “we had never worn shoes in our lives. So how would we even know that wearing shoes was a big deal? We weren’t in a position to compare. That’s just how we lived." He then explained how his parents were extremely hard-working and woke up early in the morning to get in their daily routine. He continued, “Despite everything, these challenging circumstances of living in scarcity never left a mark on our minds.”

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Sharing an anecdote, PM Modi recalled walking barefoot to school until one day his maternal uncle stopped him and gifted him canvas shoes which cost ₹10-₹12 at the time. He said, “But here’s the thing. They were white canvas shoes, and they would quickly get stained. So what did I do? In the evening, after school was over, I would stay back for a while. I would go from classroom to classroom, collecting leftover pieces of chalk that the teachers had discarded. I would take the pieces of chalk home, soak them in water, mix them into a paste and polish my canvas shoes with it, making them bright white again. or me, those shoes were a treasured possession, a symbol of great wealth.”

He added that since childhood his mother made him very particular about cleanliness and proper dressing, a habit that he continues to possess till now. He concluded by saying, “That’s how I lived, and I found joy in it. We never thought about being poor, or judged about how others lived or what their struggles were. We lived carefree, enjoying whatever little we had and kept working hard. Never once did we complain about these things.”

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This conversation with Lex Fridman marks PM Modi’s second podcast appearance, following his discussion with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath last month.