When a picture is worth a thousand words: “Indonesia at our hearts” say 2 IFS batch-mates

AT TIMES a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a powerful photo of two senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers – ambassador designate to Indonesia Nengcha Lhouvum and ambassador designate to Germany Gurjit Singh. Singh till recently was India’s ambassador to Indonesia, and now Ms Lhouvum will shortly take over charge in Indonesia. Posted in a social media site, the message said:
“Indonesia at our hearts...with amb designate Nengcha Lhouvum and former @AmbGurjitSingh”.
Ms Lhouvum, a 1980 batch IFS officer, is considered to be the right choice as India’s ambassador to Indonesia because of her past track record on pushing Look East policy, now termed as Act East Policy, when she had handled South East Asia and ASEAN in ministry of external affairs (MEA).
A Thadou Kuki from Churachandpur in Manipur, Lhouvum studied in Shillong.  After getting into IFS, she married her batch-mate Gautam Mukhopadhyay, IFS. She is an alumnus of the National Defence College.
Ms Lhouvum used to work as second secretary in the Dhaka mission and deputy consul general in New York. She received the prestigious Prime Ministers Award for Excellence in Public Administration because of her contribution as India’s Ambassador to Lebanon.
She also led New Delhi-based Foreign Service Institute as its dean.
The other officer in the photo Gurjit Singh, also a 1980 batch IFS, will soon head towards Berlin to take over as India’s ambassador to Germany. After renewing his driving license in Delhi recently, he tweeted, “pleasant experience. driving license renewed at the office in IP estate New Delhi. Smooth. Efficient courteous and I was out in 30 minutes”.
Schooled at the Mayo College, Ajmer, Singh is a post-graduation in international studies from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He served in Indian Missions in Tokyo, Colombo, Nairobi and Rome, and then served as ambassador of India to Ethiopia, Djibouti and the representative of India to the African Union. Singh also served as additional secretary in charge of Africa at the ministry of external affairs (MEA) in New Delhi, and was the sherpa for the India-Africa Forum Summits.
During his tenure as ambassador to Indonesia, Singh edited a book titled “Masala Bumbu: Enhancing the India-Indonesia Partnership”. No doubt, Indonesia is in his heart.