Fathers And Sons Swagat August 2007

FATHERSAND SONS Harilal Gandhi: A Life By Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal Edited and translated from Gujarati by TridibSuhrud Publisher: OrientLongman Pages: 324 Price: Rs 690 .,

T

he well-kn~

view of Mahatma Gandhi that his life is an open book is never more

true than, i~his relation,s with his est~nged elde~t son, Harilal. ,Psyc~o~nalysts and others might see a classIc father-son rIvalry,but that would be simplifYing and roman-

ticising the matter a li~tletoo much. One of the greatest advantages of reading this translation of Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal's Gujarati biography is that there is no attempt to interpret the relationship in terms of pseudo-theories. Without beingjudgmental,

Dalal shows that Gandhi

was unintentionally indifferent to his eldest son in the early years. In his letters home in the early 1890s, he rarely inquires about Harilal. We alsolearn soine of the lesser-known facts of Gandhi's professional career in the 1890s. He sets up practice in Bombay, but is not too successful. Then he goes on a South African assignment. It is much later that Kasturba and the

childrenjoin him there.Harilal staysback for studies.Gandhi's elder brother and his friend

(

arrange Harilal's madiage. Although Gandhi does not approve of the idea, there is hardly anything he can do; he abcepts Harilal and his wife when they later join him in South Africa. While in South Africa, Harilal participates in the Satyagraha movement and goes to prison. Gandhi is proud of his achievement. On one occasion, both father and son are in prison at the same time. But Harilal's break with his father, too, comes at around the same time. Harilal wants to be a barrister like his father, and is offered financial support by some of Gandhi's friends. But being an idealist, Gandhi does not agree. Dejected Harilal tries to ru~ away to

A rebel's tale

India, but fails. When he is allowed to return, Harilal sets up home in Ahmedabad with his wife and child, and makes an unsuccessful attempt in the matriculation examination. He is him at Bombay, and travels with him on the initial tours, However, their ways are separate now.

I

Harilal gets into financial difficulties, tries to set up. a business, but fails again. He takes up a

man had the ability to slice through any

job with one of his father's businessman fricl).dsand incurs finantial liabilities. He writes a ,

defence with sublime skill, but tackled

pamphlet against his father, questioning some of his assumptions and practices, but does not get it published. His wife dies, and he becomes an alcoholic. There are moments when he

opposition off the field with a remarkable lack of tact. Even so, few who follow

returns to Sabarniati Ashram, and expresses a desire to reform, but fails. Harilal is shown to be .

hockey would deny that he was one of a

kind and sociable despite being unsuccessful in making a success of his career. He is a .devoted . . .

kind-the

husband. In fact,the onlyhappiness in his lifeis that ofconjugallove.

headlines and, hopefully, sells books.

twenty-four and too old for the task. When Gandhi returns to India in 1915, Harilal receives

.

The translator has done a good job of being faithful to the original edition. He has also

f there was a Stormy Petrel in Indian hockey, it.would be Dhanr
kind that wins games, makes

Sundeep Misra has done hockey in

added ample appendices of the letters and notes of Harilal and the Mahatma. It is a touching,

particular and sports in general a great

though troubled, relationship between father and son. The Mahatma was not heartless and the

service by bringing out a book on Pillay,

son was not a wayward dissolute. The simple fact was that Harilal was a frail man in terms of

the admired player and much maligned

mental strength and he could not meet the standards that his father had set for himself, for his sons and those around him.

and misunderstood

-Parsa

128 SWAGAT+AUGUST2007

Venkateshwar Rao Jr.

person. Misra's style is

smooth and easy, coming from writing for the people, and not for himself..