He is the Mahatma, a man the world venerates as a prophet of peace. But for Kastur, the child bride who married the boy next door, Mohandas was a sexually-driven, self-righteous, and overbearing husband.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was sworn to poverty, celibacy and the cause for India’s freedom; Kastur spent sixty-two years of her life, juggling the roles of a devoted wife, a satyagrahi and sacrificing mother, who was eclipsed because of a man who almost became God for India’s multitude. Gandhi was an intolerant father to Harilal, his wayward son, driven to debauchery; Kasturba paid the price for her son’s unending misery.
Kastur is long dead, but she lives on in the pages of her diary…. Renowned author Neelima Dalmia Adhar lays it bare to tell the world what it meant to be Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - in a gripping tale of unconditional love, passion, sex, ecstasy and the ultimate liberation that every woman seeks.
The Secret Diary of Kasturba is a autobiographical fiction
written by Neelima Dalmia Adhar. She is a famed author for writing books like
Father Dearest: The Life & Times of R.K. Dalmia & Merchants of Death.
She has a Master’s degree in Psychology with specialization in “Personality”
which lead to her first & only job of teaching Psychology to undergrads of
Delhi University.
Kastur a teenage girl from a Gujrati family Kapadia gets
married to the youngest son of the Dewan of Porbandar, Mohandas of the famed
Gandhi family in 1882. Though they used to play together but soon their lives
were separated for a short time as she was forced to learn the domestic ways
which would help her after she gets married, while on the other hand Mohandas
grew up as a carefree boy. As they got married she didn’t have any idea what
twists & turns her life will take in future. The book starts with the death
of Kasturba Gandhi in the arms of Mahatma Gandhi, she relives her whole life
while she breathed her last. From that point of the story we travel to her past
from the beginning. The author narrates all the life events of Kasturba Gandhi
from her birth to marriage & henceforth what she went through with her
husband.
I chose this book to read at the end of 2016 hoping to leave
the year on a good note & luckily it did. It’s quite refreshing to read
about Kasturba Gandhi instead of Mahatma because I feel female individuals of
Indian freedom struggle haven’t been quite discussed in detail & definitely
not someone like Kasturba Gandhi where she had to endure so much to live with a
difficult man like Mahatma. The author’s skill to relate to Kasturba Gandhi
shows how much research she has done to write this book. Though at some parts
the story focussed more on Mahatma & other entities than Kasturba Gandhi
but it seems to be necessary to add the extra detail which strengthened the
plot. The cover & title is to the point. There were some editing &
factual mistakes but I think it didn’t weakened any part of the book. A total
thumbs up for the effort & a must read, no wonder it ended up on top of my
Top Ten 2016 Reads.
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