Witness to greatness

I WAS NEARLY 11 when Kasturba died; and nearly 14 when Gandhi died. My views on them are based on my personal contact with them.

- TARA GANDHI

She was the witness to Gandhi. They were about 14 when they got married. I sometimes wonder: did it ever strike her that she was marrying a man who would be the man of the century, a legend like the Buddha and Christ? And that life would be a struggle, a sangarsh for truth?

She was a typical Indian rural woman, but not uneducated. She was illiterate, but educated. She saw Gandhi grow. And she grew with him spiritually and logically. At every step, she argued. It was only after argument that she accepted. If she liked it, then she understood it, followed it. She understood his philosophy better than what he did. In a way, she became even stronger in her convictions on Gandhi’s philosophy.

In her last days in the Aga Khan Palace, when we went to visit her, we had to book the compartment. I mean, we travelled by third class. Bapu would be so smiling. I could see his happiness on seeing my father (Devdas Gandhi) and all of us. He had mellowed down and was on a spiritual journey. So was Kasturba. Her main aim was to look after his health all the time.