Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday made his Podcast debut on billionaire Nikhil Kamath's YouTube channel. Internet has been buzzing for the past two days ever since Zerodha Co-Founder Nikhil Kamath dropped a teaser and later a short trailer of the podcast with PM Narendra Modi. Finally, on Friday, Nikhil Kamath dropped his podcast with PM Modi with the title, 'People with The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi x Nikhil Kamath | Episode 6'.
Nikhil Kamath started his podcast with PM Modi asking him to narrate about his childhood. When PM Modi was talking about his childhood, he shared a conversation that took place between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping over a phone call. Below is an excerpt of what PM Modi said-
PM Modi Childhood
"I was born in North Gujarat of Maisana District in Vadnagar village. When I was a child, it had only 15,000 population. My village was like a 'Gaikwadi' state. It had a specialty that every village member was quite serious about education. I studied at a primary school of 'Gaikwad State'. I learned to swim since there was a pond there. There was a Maharaj Shree Bhagvatacharya Narayanacharya High School. It was a charitable school. Education was not like today those days, " said PM Modi.
For the unversed, from the age of 7, PM Modi used to go to the railway station with his father to sell tea. When he had a free period in school, he would go to the station and help his father sell tea and after the period was over, he would return and study. But tea also became the medium for him to join the RSS. RSS people often came to Modi's tea shop. Modi used to have good conversations with them.
PM Modi's conversation with Xi Jinping over phone call
PM Modi further said, "I studied somewhere the Chinese philosopher Xuanzang had lived in my village. There was a movie in the making on him. For that, I wrote them (the Chinese Embassy) a letter and requested to mention the name of my village as Xuanzang also lived here...
In 2014, when I became the Prime Minister of India, it is normal for global leaders to dial for a courtesy call. I received China's President Xi Jinping's courtesy call. He extended his greetings. He said that he wants to come to India. I said you are welcome to come. Then President Xi said 'I want to go to Gujarat'. I said that is even better.
Then again he said, 'I want to go to your village Vadnagar.' He then asked me, 'Do you know why?' I told him no I don't know. Then Xi said, 'You and I share a special relationship.' I asked what? He said 'Xuanzang who was a Chinese philosopher he spent most of his time in your village when he was in India. But, when he returned to China, he lived in my village. This is our connection.'"