Mahatma Vs Gandhi

by Dinkar Joshi

Harilal Gandhi,the eldest among the four sons of Mahatma Gandhi, is the protoganist of this book. The tussle between the father and the son was the most poignant and pathetic stories of their lives. Gandhi,who was busy attending meetings and conferences where the fate of forty crore Indians was to be decided, would often find headlines in a newspaper screaming 'Police arrested drunk Harilal for creating a scene on the road'. And sometimes, Harilal himself from the dias of the fundamentalist Muslim organization's meeting - 'I shall continue fighting till Ba and Bapu embrace Islam.'

In this book the author tries to make an ardent effort to understand yet another enigmatic facet of human life.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Manish Purohit · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 (Hari Lal Gandhi). The book efficiently captures the various phases of Hari Lal Gandhi right from his childhood to his eventual end. Born in the family of father of nation, he had the legacy of the name “GANDHI” which after one point of his life started stifling him and he made all possible moves to come out of it. But call it his fate, luck or destiny every time he tried to do something, it backfired, pushing him to a deep pit of isolation and solitude. The book ravels through the time when Hari Lal had a great respect for his father, infact he supported his Satyagraha movement and ideas. But the label of being a ‘Junior Gandhi’ start dampening his spirits, losing his individual identity and with sequence of events unfolding, the relationship between the father and the son start de-grading & Hari Lal 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 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 eldest son of the father of nation. The manner in which the fate scripts Hari Lal’s journey from abandoning home, responsibilities, drowning in alcohol and ultimately dying a pitiable death is indeed deplorable.

A must read for all !!!

Rating: 5/5

Visit my blog for a detailed review. . .
http://musingsofawanderingheart.blogs...

[Manisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

એક દુઃખી આત્માની કથા!

દુનિયા જેને મહાત્મા તરીકે પૂજતી હોય તેની નબળી બાજુ ઉજાગર કરવાનું કામ ઘણી હિંમત માગી લે છે. મહાત્મા ગાંધીના જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર હરિલાલ વિષે લખતી વખતે લેખક શ્રી દિનકર જોશીએ તટસ્થભાવે જે જેમ બન્યું તેમ લખ્યું છે. શું સાચું કે ખોટું અથવા હરિલાલની દુર્ગતિ માટે કોણ જવાબદાર તેનો ન્યાય તોળવાની જવાબદારી તેમણે સંપૂર્ણપણે વાચક પર નાખી દીધી છે. પોતપોતાની વિચારધારા અનુસાર દરેક વાચકે વ્યક્તિગત ન્યાય તોળ્યો હશે. મને જે લાગ્યું તે હું અહીં મૂકી રહી છું.
મારા મતે સંતાનને જન્મ આપનાર દરેક માતા-પિતાની તેમના સંતાન પ્રત્યે કેટલીક જવાબદરીઓ હોય છે. બાળકો પેદા કરીને તેમને રેઢાં મૂકી દઈને સમાજસેવા કરવા હાલી નીકળનારા પેરેન્ટ્સ પોતાનાં સંતાનોના ગુનેગાર છે. જો જવાબદારીઓ નિભાવવી નહોતી, તો તેમને જન્મ શા માટે આપ્યો? સેવાના નામે પોતાનાં સંતાનોને શિક્ષણ જેવી પ્રાથમિક જરૂરિયાત પણ પૂરી ન પાડનાર વ્યક્તિ ભલે આખી દુનિયાનો બાપુ કહેવાય, તેના સંતાનને તેની પ્રત્યે ફરિયાદ હોવાની જ. હરિલાલના જીવનમાં પછીથી જે બન્યું તે માટે તેમની પ્રકૃતિ કે સંજોગો કે પછી બંનેને જવાબદાર ગણી શકાય.
સહુથી વધુ મને કસ્તુરબા માટે લાગી આવ્યું. પતિ અને સંતાનો વચ્ચે ખેંચાતી એ ભારતીય સ્ત્રી કદીય પતિને કહી ન શકી કે ભારતીય સંસ્કૃતિ ભલે પતિને પરમેશ્વર ગણે, તેનો પતિ માત્ર પતિ જ છે, પરમેશ્વર નહિ.
હરિલાલના જીવન પરથી નાટક, ફિલ્મ વગેરે બન્યાં છે અને મેં તે જોયાં પણ છે. કદાચ એટલે જ ઘણા સમયથી અંગત લાયબ્રેરીમાં સચવાયેલું આ પુસ્તક છેક હવે વાંચવા લીધું. વાંચ્યા વગર જવા દીધું હોત તો અફસોસ રહેત. ફિલ્મ કે નાટક એક વિઝ્યુઅલ માધ્યમ છે. ત્યાં હાવભાવ અને ડાયલોગ્સ દ્વારા બને તેટલું દેખાડવાનો પ્રયાસ કરવામાં આવે છે. પરંતુ જયારે લેખક કથાને શબ્દોમાં ઢાળે છે, ત્યારે તેમાં એક વિચારધારા પણ જોડાતી હોય છે જે પડદા કે સ્ટેજ પર દેખાતી નથી. તેથી જ જયારે એકાદ કૃતિ પરથી ફિલ્મ કે નાટક બને અને જો એ ગમે, તો એ કૃતિ જરૂરથી વાંચવી. તો જ એ કૃતિને સંપૂર્ણપણે માણી એમ કહી શકાય.

[Gobinda]

Mr. Gandhi was really a Mahatma (Great Soul). But on the other hand, he was below the average father.

[Anil Swarup · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much has been written about the Gandhi but this book attempts to look at the Mahatma from a totally different point of view.......from the eyes of his eldest son Harilal who went astray but not before attempting to be a dedicated disciple of his renowned father even earning the name of "Junior Gandhi". However, over a period of time, Harilal became one of his most vociferous crtitics and called his father "ringmaster" treating his family "like animals in the circus". The Mahatma "whose voice had an answer to all the problems of the nation seemed to have lost his voice" when it came to Harilal. However, the greatness of the Mahatma pervades through the book despite being "unfair" to those that were closest to him. He was pained at was happening but he took most of the punishment himself.
A book worth reading and worth keeping as well for those that want to look at the other side of the Mahatma.

[Jignesh Ahir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a son of Nation's father. I cannot describe it through my words but this book is for those parents who are well known personalities and they forget that their children might have average thinking and knowledge. So they need your support and you cannot just leave them alone to fight with the world.

I heard it before that, in his entire life Gandhi could not convince two people one was Jinnah and second was his elder son Harilal and after reading this book I totally agree with it.

[Vinay Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a pity story of the son of The Father of the Nation.True,He was father to the nattion but could not become the father of his family.

[Rucha · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book one comes to know every small sacrifice the family of the father of the nation had to make in every small thing everyday.The children even had to sacrifice education for their father.It is difficult to judge the Mahatma for his decisions ,for his decisions and sacrifices contributed a lot for the liberation of our country.Nevertheless one feels very sad and sympathetic not only for Harilal but also for Bapu ,at the end of the book

[Mitransh Choubisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will bapu, the father of the nation, be able to sustain the title of father alone!?
Its a story of every another father-son complicated yet beautiful relationship. Or letme scratch that, its the story of nation's father and his own complicated yet beautiful relationship.

[Dr Sneh Kalgotra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story truly deserved a narration. It has always baffled me to what must have wrong with a Gandhi family. After reading this one. I again stick to what I have felt for ages now that every story has more tha one perspectives and sometimes all perspectives are correct.