Tridip Suhrud – författare

This book publishes - for the most part, for the first time - Gandhi's letters to his youngest son, Devadas from 1914, when father and son were both in South Africa to 1948, when they were both in Delhi, the capital of free India where within hours of the last letter Gandhi was assassinated. Gandhi wrote these letters by day, he wrote them by night, he wrote them from aboard trains, steamers, both right and left hands being pressed into service to rest one when tired out. The letters span three decades during which the writer grew from being a fighter for the rights of Indians in South Africa to being hailed as Father of the Nation by millions in India and - opposed by many as well including the man who felled him by three bullets fired at point blank range on 30 January, 1948. The letters hold his aspirations for his son and for his nation. They bear great love and they also scorch. And we see Devadas, the recipient of the letters, move in them from compliant childhood and youth, to adulthood, questioning and remonstrating with his father and being just the independent son his father wants him to be.

The Diary of Manu Gandhi, is a collection of entries spanning two volumes. Written by a young Manubehn Gandhi, it is a record of her life and times with M.K Gandhi between the years 1943 and 48. Manu Gandhi joined Gandhi's entourage in 1943 as an aide to his ailing wife Kasturba in the Aga Khan Palace prison and remained with him and his family until his assassination. Through this period she recorded her experiences with M.K Gandhi through meticulous and intimate entries in her diary. These diaries are unlike other diaries from Gandhi's companions in that they were shown to him daily and he signed on the entries to authenticate them. More than 60 years after his death, these diaries are now some of the most important accounts of his life, his ideology, his popularity and his intimate relationships with his family, his physician, and his associates.

In his translator's preface to the revised edition of Gandhiji's autobiography, Mahadev Desai stated: ‘It has now undergone careful revision, and from the point of view of language, it has had the benefit of careful revision by a revered friend, who, among many other things, has the reputation of being an eminent English scholar’. The identity of the 'revered friend' was not disclosed, nor were the extent and nature of changes recorded. This concordance table reconstructs the entire process of revision and provides a detailed analysis of the changes made by Sir V S Srinvasas Sastri.