Reflections of an Extraordinary Era

the long version

"The granddaughter of both Mahatma Gandhi and Rajaji, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee spent her childhood among the freedom fighters and leaders who laid the foundation for an independent India. As a sprightly little girl growing up in Delhi in the 1940s, Tara bore witness to World War II, the tumultuous run-up to India's freedom, its tragic partition and Gandhi's assassination in 1949. The eldest child of Devadas and Lakshmi Gandhi, Tara remembers being part of Gandhi's evening prayers in Delhi, visiting him at the Aga Khan Palace, where he was put under house arrest along with Kasturba and his secretary Mahadev Desai, and later meeting him in Shimla during her summer break from school. Gandhi's Satyagrah, his efforts to end social disparities in Harijan Ashram, his compassion for anyone who came seeking advice, and his life as a family man, a parent and a grandfather, are all seen through the prism of a young Tara's impressions. At once inspiring and heart-warming, this is a book of small but priceless memories, and about being shaped by a pivotal era in the history of India"--Page four of cover.