Title: Mahatma vs. Gandhi
Author: Dinkar Joshi
Genre: Non Fiction / History
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House
Pages: 296 Pages
Price: INR 250
Book
Synopsis. . .
‘Bapu had failed to convince two people in his
lifetime one was Jinnah and the other was Harilal...’ Thus starts the journey
of anecdotes, exploring the personal anguish and mental torment between the
father (Mahatma Gandhi) and his eldest son (Harilal Gandhi).
‘Mahatma vs.
Gandhi’ efficiently captures various phases of Harilal Gandhi right from his
childhood to his eventual abrupt end. The book ravels through the time when young
Harilal has great respect for his father, in fact he supports his Satyagraha
movement and ideas & aspires to become a barrister like him. However, the principles
and ethics of the disciplined father place him in a testing spot more often
than not & make him dejected and dismayed with the outcome. The label of being a ‘Junior
Gandhi’ starts dampening his spirits, losing his individual identity and with
sequence of events unfolding, the relationship between the father and the son
start degrading & Harilal develops the feeling that whatever wrong that’s
happening to him is due to his father. The only solace he could find amidst all
the despair is in ‘Baa’, his mother. The book also very finely reflects various
junctures when Baa voices her concerns over Bapu’s way of handling things and
raises her voice for her sons’ future.
Harilal is born in the family of the father of nation,
with the legacy of the name “GANDHI”, which after one point of his life starts
stifling him and he makes all possible moves to come out of it. But, call it his
fate, luck or destiny, every time he tries to do something; it backfires with a
higher intensity pushing him to a deep inferno of isolation and solitude. Bapu’s
always had that queering philosophy of supporting all but his family which
becomes evident at various junctures in the book like when he gives someone
else a chance for higher studies in England when his own son wanted to pursue
the same only because he doesn't want the world to coin that Bapu is recovering
the value for his services to the society. These incidents leave a mark on the
heart of Harilal, which aggravates further with frequent dejection of him by
his father (like disapproving his marriage with his wife Gulaab etc); so much
so that the burden of his surname makes it difficult for him to proceed. Even
during the outer years of his life, the stigma of being the eldest son of the
Mahatma Gandhi down plays him, with various sects of politicians using him as a
mean to demean Bapu’s prestige; while he, arrested amidst his own inferior
motives, falls prey to each of them. He baptizes himself to muslim converting
from himself Harilal to Abdullah Gandhi and again re-converts himself to Harilal.
Does the father of nation really prove to be the
father of his sons? Does the divide that develops between the father and the son
become too wide to bridge? Does the legacy of being a successor of country’s
most respected personality becomes curse to Harilal? Does, the otherwise mute ‘Baa’
raise her voice towards Bapu to safeguard her children’s future?
Grab your copy
to unveil the answers to these and to discover the darker side of being a
Gandhi.
The Final
Word. . .
The author has crafted the book in an efficient manner
which keeps the reader glued to it till the end. Unfortunately the events as
unfolds in this true story make reader sad about the course of life the destiny
had carved out for the eldest son of the father of nation. The manner in which
the fate scripts Harilal’s journey from abandoning home, responsibilities,
drowning in alcohol and ultimately dying a pitiable death is indeed deplorable.
All in all a must read for everyone interested in the
slice of history!!!
Rating: 5/5
About the
Author. . .
Dinkar Joshi is a renowned Gujarati writer who has
written over 150 books which has been translated into various languages world-wide.
The writing covers different areas of the life of mankind. The areas are viz.
with social background, with spiritual background, the research work on Lord
Krishna, Lord Buddha, Epics like Ramayan & Mahabharat etc. His Biographical
novels are based on the life of different distinguished personalities e. g.
Gujarati Poet Narmad, Mahatma Gandhi & his son Harilal, Mohmmad Ali Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, Rabindranath
Tagore, a Nobel laureate Indian Poet.
The novel ‘Mahatma vs. Gandhi’ based on the life of
Mahatma Gandhi & his son Harilal was adapted in a drama form in different languages and was
performed on the stage for quite a long time. The English version of this drama
'Mahatma Vs Gandhi' was performed at U.K., U. S. A., South Africa & other
countries. A special show was performed at Rashtrapati Bhavan on invitation
from the then President K. R. Narayan.
To know more about him, visit his website www.dinkarjoshi.com
Where to
grab a copy. . .
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