Founding mothers: A life less ordinary

In the early 90s, in the

Mahatma

’s ashram, a girl’s hair was chopped off for attracting attention of the opposite sex, and even now, a girl is shamed for getting raped.

Author

Neelima Dalmia Adhar

was at the

Times Lit Fest

on Sunday, talking on the life of

Kasturba Gandhi

, how she became a victim of Gandhi’s austere ways.

With little information and a lot of misinformation, writing about Kasturba was a challenge for the author, who started her research for, The Secret Diary of Kasturba Gandhi, on the suggestion of a friend.

As a young bride passionately in love with a man who cannot get enough of her, Kasturba’s life changed with time, said the author.

The fourth child of her father’s sixth wife, Adhar calls herself an oddity, and says writing about Kasturba was easy for her as she could see herself in her. Just like the Mahatma, who left his family behind and dared to take everybody along, Adhar’s father also lived for the outside world, without paying much attention to his vast family.

Dwelling into the protagonist’s character, the author says that Kasturba was a fiery woman of her time. She played a vital role in fulfilling Gandhi’s never-ending sexual desires. She dubbed down her wishes to be with Gandhi and be his puppet. And when Gandhi starts his experiments with truth, Kasturba is the first fallout, closely followed by their first born — Harilal.

Mahatma wanted to show that the whole world was his children and ignored his own. The author says that she has lived Harilal’s life. He chooses the life of a pauper, and drags his family too into it. Gandhi was considered close to a couple of women such as

Sarla Devi Chaudhurani

. They toured the world together as freedom fighters and then there was a point when Kasturba started questioning if the celibacy was only for her.

Exploring Kasturba’s mind quite well, the author shows us a fascinating picture of a strong-willed women, traditional yet willing to adapt, someone we had only heard of earlier.

Written by: Aditi RaySales Special Microsites