Hemangi Vyas

A must read for both the critics and admirers of Gandhi. It gives the reader an inside view of how Gandhi evolved and metamorphosed into the person that the World recognised and came to know. It shows all what a Biography should; a person as a person as a regular human being and why and how he became Great in the eyes of the World. To change oneself from within not just without and through a lot of introspection and discipline envsions and choose one's path in life. Gandhi is not just about Freedom of India or Truth and Non-violence. His all encompassing views and thoughts on different areas, aspects and facets of life remain and will remain a lodestar for centuries to come. A word about the author Louis Fischer wrote a few more books on Gandhi. He also lived with him for several days/ months to understand and learn about him. It was not just based on a few interviews. His lesser know interview of Raliyatben, Gandhiji's elder sister to know how Gandhi was as a child is an example of how he tried to understand the person he was and the intrinsic nature and values that were the base of his life and were the foundation for him to become 'a Mahtama' - an epithet he personally disapproved of - in the eyes of Indians and World citizens at large.

The title provides insight into Vijayalakshmi Pandit's life from a vantage point. Her experiences and life as a family member, a woman and ultimately her foray into public and political life. Provides a ring side view and understanding of the family life of the Nehrus and family's eventual gradual move into the freedom struggle. From a luxurious life to a simpler life and the struggles. Relationships and interactions; personal as also political are treated with a rare matter of fact manner with no holds barred. A revelation into the times and life and an era. As a biography ideally should. this one makes the reader feel that one knows the author as a person, who went on to achieve and attain the position she did in life.