Ramachandra Guha: In Gopal Gandhi’s new book, a personal, nuanced history of the country he loves

On April 22, 2020, I had posted a thread on Twitter (then not yet X) marking “the 75th birthday of one of the most remarkable living Indians: Gopalkrishna Gandhi, public servant, diplomat, writer and scholar”. The thread spoke of his contributions to his country, the grace and dignity of his character and, in the end, of then personal debt I owed him. Gopal Gandhi, I wrote then, “has taught me more about modern Indian history and Mahatma Gandhi than anyone else”.

Five years on, on the eve of his 80th birthday, Gopal Gandhi has placed me (and many other Indians) even more emphatically in his debt by gifting us with a rich, nuanced, enjoyable, and immensely educative book on the progress – as well as the regress – of the Republic whose journey has run parallel with his own life.

The narrative interweaves personal memories with descriptions of larger historical events, the latter drawing on his formidable range of reading and his deep understanding of India. The prose is enriched with an array of wonderful, and often never seen before, photographs of the principal actors and incidents in the tumultuous journey of the writer and his country. And there are many tender references...

Read more

News