Gandhi My Father paints the picture of Gandhi's intricate, complex and strained relationship with his son Harilal Gandhi. From the onset, the two had dreams in opposite directions. Harilal's ambition was to study abroad and become a barrister like his father, while Gandhi hoped that his son would join him and fight for his ideals and causes in India.
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Reverentially known as the father of India, Mahatma Gandhi played a pivotal role in securing freedom for India from oppressive British rule. As a strong advocate of Satya (Truth) and Ahimsa (Non-Violence), Gandhi personified the power of perseverance and non-violence in combating injustice and oppression.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had asked about killing of her father Rajiv Gandhi when she met her in prison in 2008, Nalini Sriharan, convict freed in the former Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case said on Sunday.
For Indians, he became Bapu, the father of the nation. To the rest of the world he was a unique general who warred against injustice and hypocrisy in every form. His weapons were truth and non-violence. Family values may have shaped him, but it was his own courage and persistence that made Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi change the way people thought and that is how he changed the way people lived, for the better.
I was born in Calcutta. In January 1948, I was twelve years old. My father R. Viswanathan and my mother Bhageerathi had moved from Cacutta to Karachi in 1936, in Karachi we lived in reasonable comfort. My sister, Raji, was born there in 1938, and that city was our home for as long as we could remember. My parents has a fair circle of friends. No ripple seemed to disturb the course of our life. My father believed that, like Muslims in India, Hindus in Pakistan too could live in peace despite Partition. Let me go back little.
My father and mother had given me an Ansco 'Shur-shot Junior' box camera, and a framed picture of Mahatma Gandhi with stand for keeping on a table. The independence of India was in the offing in 1947, but there was no sign of anything coming to upset the even tenor of our life. We used to visit friends, or have them come home. We went to school, shopping, to movies, and to the Mahatma Gandhi Garden, where fresh rose-flavoured Gulabi grapes could be bought cut freshly from the vine.
We lived in the extension part of the city close to the. cantonment, and yet it was suddenly no longer safe to venture into the streets. My sister and I used to ride on the bicycle to fetch groceries, butter etc. These little trips became hazardous and we were told we should not go out any more. I went to St. Patrick's School and my sister to the St. Joseph's Convent School beyond Sadar. Going to school also stopped. My father's Muslim driver, Yaseen, and servants, Mahmood and Basharat, the latter a strong strapping Pathan, were coming as usual. We didn't think of them as Muslims and of ourselves as Hindus. They helped in the house and often joined in when we fed the one-eyed parrot, Mitu, in his cage, and had fun with the cat Toppy, and a black tom-kitten, Whoopee.
My father went daily to Malir near Drigh Road aerodrome, where he was in charge of an Army Contract business which was doing well. Father had earned praise from no less a person than the Commander- in-Chief of India, Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck when he visited the station. Father used also to go to Mauripur airport. He was driven to and from work by driver Yaseen, and often returned home late at night.
Mother used to be on tenter-hooks till he came back. I remember that the gates used to be locked and we would be in the puja room praying. There were occasions when curfew came into force at 7 p.m. and if my father hadn't returned by then, we knew he could not do so till the next morning - and we were all alone in the house. One night he came back past eight p.m. and said that Yaseen had decided to make a dash for it all the way from Malir, since it might be unsafe to stay the night far away from the city. It was an instinctive, wise action by Yaseen. The next day we learnt there had been violence on the road, blood had been shed, and lives taken.
Gradually it dawned upon us that my father's hopes of continuing to live in Karachi were far-fetched., My father's friend D'Sa, a lawyer, advised us to prepare to leave Karachi and look for a new life in India. The only unchanged thing was our listening to the 5 p.m. A I R broadcast. 2ff7e9595c
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