Friendships freed from jail

Today, a friendship forged by common ideals behind prison walls has become a transactional understanding

They were three. They were all very different from one another. But they were the best of friends. Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar, and Sushil Modi plunged into politics at around the same time. Today, while all of them are still in politics, they have all chosen different paths.

“My mother was a big gappi (chatterbox),” exclaimed Nitish in a conversation with Business Standard some years ago. “Lalu and Sushil Modi used to often come to our house in Kalyanpur Bigha and she would cook for them, entertain them, and be entertained,” he chuckled.

The crossing-point was 1974. As an Akhil