My Dear Bapu Engelska 2012

Nine years younger than Gandhi, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, or Rajaji, was described by him as his conscience keeper and, at one time, as his only possible successor . As his southern general, Rajaji campaigned for freedom, promoting khadi and prohibition. Though they shared nearly thirty years of colleagueship, hardship, friendship and kinship-when daughter Lakshmi married Devadas Gandhi-Rajaji remained throughout a man of his own mind.The eighty-odd largely unpublished letters from this contrarian statesman to his leader Mahatma Gandhi, and those to his son-in-law Devadas Gandhi and to his grandson that are presented here are from family archives and public repositories. The letters span the years between 1920 and 1955, in the run-up to Independence and its early years. Described are the struggles and endeavours, large and small, made in the public arena, besides the inner world of friends, Q home and hearth, with both spheres coalescing seamlessly. Frank, brave, at times bitter, the letters are remarkably free of recrimination or anything that could diminish the dialogue. Observed always is a healthy respect for the freedom to differ, to persuade, to agree to disagree, but never to let down or part.Compiled, edited and annotated by Gopalkrishna Gandhi, in a manner he believes his father, Devadas, would have approved, these letters are accompanied by a deeply felt and illuminating introduction. They offer us a rare glimpse into the lives of two of the tallest Indians of our age, when idealism rode strong but was also challenged.About the