On his passport he was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The poet Rabindranath Tagore gave him the title ‘Mahatma’- the great soul- but he was rather uncomfortable with that. Nelson Mandela calls him a ‘sacred warrior’, others describe him as the ‘the saint of the spinning wheel’ and we now declare him as our ‘Father of the Nation’. A courageous freedom fighter, a shrewd politician, a passionate social reformer and a staunch nationalist, Mahatma Gandhi was all this and much more. He was the most unusual leader this country has seen, and one of the most influential personalities whose name is synonymous with India’s independence. He was the one who touched the lives of millions, whose ideals of satyagraha and ahimsa inspired great leaders of the world, and who could make the entire country come to a halt by going on a fast. Through a vivid narrative, author Subhadra Sen Gupta recreates the life and legacy of this phenomenal leader to portray the man beneath the simple handspun clothes, who ate saltless vegetables and bitter neem chutney; who greeted kings and paupers alike; who walked 240 miles at the age of sixty to break the Salt Law; and whose entire life was dedicated to truth and to peace. Even today as we read inspirational accounts of Gandhiji’s life and talk of gandhigiri, we know that his ideals are alive and relevant to today’s generation.
