It was after a long time
that a book has captivated me, to such an extent that I would extend my normal
reading hours in the night. I became so much engrossed in the book that I put
on hold, a lot of works that I set aside to be done on my holiday trip to the
city where I spent my childhood years. For three days and nights, the book was
a constant companion. The book bears a resemblance to the fast pace of modern
fictional thrillers like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, except for the fact that
the book is not a work of fiction but essentially a look into the history of
adult India through the life of Indira Gandhi.

Before reading the
book, I had quite a few negative notions on Indira Gandhi. I blamed Indira for
keeping India locked to outside influences from the period beginning 1960 to
1980. This was the period when a lot of our East Asian neighbors including
China raced past India in the economic sphere. I was severely critical of
Indira Gandhi’s government in exercising Emergency rule in India which had
nearly put out the democratic flame burning in our country. But after reading
the book, my perception of Indira and the Congress party she represents has
changed. I have to remind you of the fact that I belong to a generation that
has grown and matured right after her 17 years of reign. 

The book is written by
Pupul Jyakar, a close friend and confidant of Indira Gandhi. She traces the
history of the Nehru family right from the Mughal times, where an ancestor of the
Nehru family occupied a position in the court of the Mughal Emperor, Farrukh
Siyar. The book speaks on the journey of the ancestors of the Nehru family from
the Kashmir valley to the court of the Emperor in Delhi and to their final
settlement in Allahabad. The book also gives a good deal of insight into the
freedom struggle of India.

There is a lot of
information on the founding fathers of our country, which one comes to know of
after reading the book. The book paints the picture of Indira Gandhi not as
someone who needs to be eulogized for but of a shy lady who transforms into an
iron woman but yet vulnerable and loveable. It brings to light the early
shyness exhibited by Indira Gandhi, the reason being a crude remark made by her
aunt Vijayalakshmi Pandit, by calling her an ugly girl. The book dwells on the
German professor Frank Oberdorf who would court Indira Gandhi ceaselessly by
reminding her of her beauty but she would not give in to the charms of the
German. The book speaks the deep conflicts that  Jawaharlal Nehru had with his daughter on
account of Kamala Nehru. Her relationship with husband Feroze and son Sanjay is
also covered lengthily in the book.

After reading the book,
I come to the conclusion that people of India would always be grateful of the strong
and gritty leadership that she gave to her mother nation. I wonder what would
have been the fate of India had she not come into the political scene in India.
One truly wonderful deed that she would be ever remembered for apart from the
Indo-Pak war of 1971 and the first Pokhran atomic blasts would be her removal
of Emergency which she had herself imposed on the people of India. That single
act strengthened the Indian democracy. It laid to rest a common quote often
told “No dictator was known to give up power except through a counter-revolution”.  Indira Gandhi knew that giving up her power
might ruin her but she went ahead for the good of the country. Sure enough she
suffered a heavy loss but it also became very clear very soon that at that
particular period in the history of India, there was no leader in the scene who
could capture public imagination like the way she did and made a brilliant
comeback. She fell to bullets but even here at her death she was able to bridge
a wide gap between the various cross-section of people living in India. She can
be rightfully called the daughter of India.

To end with a quote
that someone said about Indira Gandhi in the book (I am not able to locate the
page) – “India is Indira and Indira is
India”