Gurugram: Carterpuri’s elderly recall late US ex-president Jimmy Carter
A local legend says that the US president was born here. However, he was, in fact, born in the small town of Plains, Georgia in the United States
In Carterpuri, a nondescript village in Gurugram, Jimmy Carter’s name resonates faintly with the younger generation. For the elderly, however, the 39th US President’s visit nearly five decades ago remains a vivid memory, one tinged with quiet mourning after his passing on Monday.
Fifteen-year-old Shreya Yadav, shopping for winter garments at a local store, didn’t know why the village bore its unusual name. Rajiv Kumar, the 53-year-old shopkeeper, directed her to a display of faded letters marked with “The White House” letterhead and black-and-white photographs of Carter’s visit on January 3, 1978.
“This is where Jimmy Carter was born,” Kumar told her, referring to a long-held local legend – Carter was, in fact, born in the small town of Plains, Georgia, US.
The letters and photographs, preserved by Kumar, originally belonged to his late father, Kartar Singh, who served as the village postmaster. Singh had corresponded with Carter on behalf of the then-sarpanch Bhoop Singh Yadav, following Carter’s historic visit.
Carter’s stop in what was then Daulatpur Nasirabad left an indelible mark. After meeting villagers and observing daily life, he proposed adopting the village for development. The proposal was politely declined by then-Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who assured Carter that the Indian government would take responsibility. Shortly after the visit, the village was renamed Carterpuri in Carter’s honour.
“It was like a festival,” recalled 78-year-old Ram Meher Singh, one of the villagers who met Carter that day. Security had sealed the village a day earlier, and Carter and his wife Rosalynn were welcomed with Haryanvi traditions—he donned a turban, and she wore traditional attire. “My late wife Krishna Devi was among the women who greeted them,” Singh said, adding he felt bad that the man by whose name their village got the identity was no more.
Late Kartar Singh’s younger brother, Attar Singh, 73, after hearing about Carter’s demise, said he was lost in the memories of the day when he had seen the former president during his visit.
“It was a mixed feeling for me. He had established a personal connection with our village which will remain forever via his name even after our generation is gone,” he said.
Kartar Singh’s letters from Carter and photographs of the visit, now yellowed with age, capture moments of warmth and curiosity. “We demonstrated a grass cutter for fodder preparation. His planned visit was just 30 minutes, but he stayed for over an hour, mingling with us,” said Attar Singh.
Despite Carter’s interest, the promises of transformation never materialised. “Had he adopted the village, it would have been entirely different,” lamented Attar Singh. Today, Carterpuri’s development lags, surrounded by the urban sprawl of Gurugram yet marked by open drains and unhygienic conditions.
Some villagers still recount the lore that Carter was born in the village when his mother, Lillian Carter—a nurse—visited during her humanitarian work in India. Though the claim is untrue, locals hold the story close. The house believed to have been Lillian’s, once owned by Sarfaraz Khan before Partition, is long gone, replaced by a modest structure.
The community centre where Carter was welcomed has also been rebuilt, erasing visible traces of that historic day.
Elderly residents like Attar Singh and Ram Meher Singh express regret that Carter never returned, despite repeated invitations. “He stayed connected through letters while in office, but communication faded afterwards,” Ram Meher Singh said. For younger generations, Carterpuri is just another village, its legacy of historical significance slowly fading into obscurity.
“Only we old-timers remember why it’s called Carterpuri,” Singh said with a sigh. “For the young, it’s just another neglected village, like so many others in India.”
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