He’s easily recognisable as the articulate face of the Congress Party. A former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Kapil Sibal turned to politics in 1998 after being elected to the Rajya Sabha. He cemented his political career by getting elected to the Lok Sabha last year from Delhi’s Chandni Chowk constituency. Kapil did his post graduation from St Stephen’s College, Delhi and LLM from Harvard Law School. He was a Congress spokesman during the 1999 and 2004 Lok Sabha polls. He is now the minister of state for Science and Technology and Ocean Development.

Akhil Sibal didn’t want to be a lawyer, but reckons that he couldn’t fight his genes. He was hoping to do something entirely different after doing a double major in philosophy and political science after studying economics at Stanford University. At that point he found himself with the option of pursuing academics or taking up law. “That is when I genuinely chose it,” says Akhil who’s lived abroad for 13 years with his mother who was in the Indian Foreign Service. He has lived in Egypt, France, California and England with his mother Nina and brother Amit. After getting a law degree from England, he returned home in 2002 and settled in Delhi. He’s started his own practice and is a lawyer in the Supreme Court.

Kapil:

Akhil has a very strong streak of self-reliance. He likes to achieve things for himself. What he doesn’t encourage is for me to help him in a pro-active manner. As a child, I remember he was always excited about things like playing table tennis. Studies were never the centre of his existence though he was good academically. He was a popular guy with lots of friends around him.

For Akhil as a kid, life was a holiday. He used to go on vacations with his friends who were studying in Pakistan or Canada. I could never boss him around in our relationship for that was one thing he has been very clear about. He likes to take his own decisions. I have always backed off as a result. Even when he is taking wrong decisions, he will rationalise them in his favour. Sometimes I am concerned when I see him doing that. Being his own person he refuses to listen. However, I have always backed him in anything that he does even though I have felt differently.

Though as a lawyer I have stayed in India while my family was abroad, I made it a point to visit them six or seven times a year whenever I managed a holiday. I have been there for Akhil, even though at times, it’s been through the telephone. But be it deciding which college to attend or any other decision, however minor or major it may have been, I have let him take a call on it himself.

Nowadays, though Akhil has become a busy lawyer, more busy than I am as a minister. In fact, I’m the one who always gets in touch with him first. And he is secure because he knows that it’s a father’s love for a son.

Akhil:

I left India when I was 11 years old along with my mother who was an IFS officer. Till that age I have fond memories of evenings spent with my father. He was not as busy then as he is today. When we went abroad all that was lost. There was a paucity of time and the confines of distance when it came to spending time with my father. He would visit us two to three times a year. Not for long stints though. I remember how we used to hold onto time and spend it together as much as possible such as going for trips to the countryside in Paris. When I was in college, we went on an Alaskan cruise. My father has always been a cricket fan and so was my brother Amit. I used to get sucked into it as well. So our vacations were centred mostly around cricket and the movies.

We used to come down to India once a year during the summer holidays when we were young. That changed though, as we grew up because abroad, work usually starts around summertime. So there was always something missing in a way. In a real sense my father was married to his work. One would feel the physical distance palpably. At the same time he has exerted a strong influence on my life. He made sure his presence was felt. Even issues such as changing schools or choosing universities had his attention.

By and large, he had implicit faith in my mother, that she’d raise us with the proper set of values. The daily upbringing was her realm. He never interfered or showed any ego as the man of the family. Any advice that he gave wasn’t a mandate but a recommendation ? something which I believe is very important, to exert influence without forcing one. I trusted his judgements especially since they were sound ones that could save you in difficult times.

I lived with my father for a year till I moved out and got married. The link has been strengthened by the fact that I have become a lawyer. When I returned to India, my father was still practising law. He wanted me to throw myself in at the deep end but never work under anybody. My brother and I went through the normal rigours of establishing ourselves. Of course, your inheritance helps you but only till a certain point. There are also people watching you and expecting you to perform. And waiting to pull you down. Politics is something that I haven’t counted out completely, but I want to make something of myself first.

If my father has any quirks, let’s leave it at this: the only thing he carries is his court craft outside the court.

Photograph by Jagan Negi