In 1978, it was the Indian Prime Minister at the time, Morarji Desai, present alongside Jimmy Carter during an hour-long visit, who proposed calling “Carterpuri” this village which then had less than 500 inhabitants.
South of New Delhi, in Carterpuri, whose name means “Carter village”the memory of former American President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100, remains forever engraved. “The whole village was in mourning, because we considered him one of us”explains Rajiv Kumar, who was a child when the democratic president visited this hamlet in 1978 where his mother had been a volunteer.
It was the Indian Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, present alongside Jimmy Carter during this one-hour visit, who proposed calling “Carterpurs” this village which then had less than 500 inhabitants. “When this was brought up, all the village elders immediately responded ‘yes’”recalls Attar Singh, 71, who vividly remembers that January afternoon, almost half a century ago.
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He is now one of the last survivors of the generation old enough to remember this event. The septuagenarian, who says he was “upset” by the death of the former American head of state, therefore actively participated in the organization of a small ceremony in tribute to the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
A photo of Jimmy Carter was uploaded to the Internet, framed, garlanded and placed on a local war memorial, where village elders made offerings, laying salty porridge and a newly sewn traditional turban. According to Singh, the porridge and turban, along with a message of condolence, were then sent to the US embassy.
MONEY SHARMA / AFP
“I remember everything”
The remains of the former US president now rest at the Capitol in Washington, where they will remain until his state funeral scheduled for Thursday. Jimmy Carter's visit to this village located about thirty kilometers south of New Delhi was not the result of chance. The ex-president's mother, Lillian, who was a nurse, had worked there as a volunteer in the Peace Corps, a U.S. government volunteer program, in the late 1960s.
The vast, dilapidated house in which she had stayed no longer exists. It was demolished about 15 years ago to make way for a two-story concrete structure with small shops on the ground floor. The village council office where Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Eleanor were greeted, their heads covered in traditional headdresses, is now a health center.
Nevertheless, this visit remains anchored in the memory of the elders. “I was a little boy then, but I remember everything”says Motiram, 62, who only goes by one name. He keeps in his memory the image of the president smoking a hookah and greeting the excited children who watched him from the rooftops as he toured the village. But his feeling of nostalgia is tinged with an ounce of disillusionment. “Despite this prestigious name, our village has not seen any progress throughout these years”affirms the city citizen.
