Aug 06, 2013 08:59 PM
1787 Views
‘Bapu had failed to convince two people in his lifetime one was Jinnah and the other was Harilal...’ Thus starts the journey of anecdotes, exploring the personal anguish and mental torment between the father (Mahatma Gandhi) and his eldest son (Harilal Gandhi).
‘Mahatma vs. Gandhi’ efficiently captures various phases of Harilal Gandhi right from his childhood to his eventual abrupt end. The book travels through the time when young Harilal has great respect for his father, in fact he supports his Satyagraha movement and ideas & aspires to become a barrister like him. However, the principles and ethics of the disciplined father place him in a testing spot more often than not & make him dejected and dismayed with the outcome.
The label of being a ‘Junior Gandhi’ starts dampening his spirits, losing his individual identity and with sequence of events unfolding, the relationship between the father and the son start degrading & Harilal develops the feeling that whatever wrong that’s happening to him is due to his father. The only solace he could find amidst all the despair is in ‘Baa’, his mother. The book also very finely reflects various junctures when Baa voices her concerns over Bapu’s way of handling things and raises her voice for her sons’ future.
The author has crafted the book in an efficient manner which keeps the reader glued to it till the end. Unfortunately the events as unfolds in this true story make reader sad about the course of life the destiny had carved out for the eldest son of the father of nation. The manner in which the fate scripts Harilal’s journey from abandoning home, responsibilities, drowning in alcohol and ultimately dying a pitiable death is indeed deplorable.
All in all a must read for everyone interested in the slice of history!!!
Rating: 5/5
Visit my blog to read a complete review of the book:
https://musingsofawanderingheart.blogspot.in/2013/08/muse-2-book-review-mahatma
-vs-gandhi-by.html
