#books
PATEL, A LIFE
by Rajmohan Gandhi.
…………….. “Behind him receded his life, as colleague to Jawaharlal – a touchy and at times contemptuous colleague, yet always loyal; as the Government’s helmsman and the Raja of Rajas; as watchdog, welder and policeman to India; inheritor, along with Nehru, of the Raj; Congress’s decision -maker, displacing the Mahatma, on the eve of freedom; as a lion pacing restlessly in the Ahmednagar cage; as Quit India’s indefatigable organiser; stern boss of the party and of Premiers; prisoner and defier of the Raj; Bardoli’s brilliant General; Gandhi’s rocklike lieutenant, caring friend and merciless leg-puller; the one who smilingly stepped aside for another, for Jawaharlal in later years and for Vithalbhai earlier; the rough haughty fashionably-attired conqueror of the Ahmedabad Bar who yet thirsted for greatness, the adult London student wasting no breath on dalliance, the lawyer feared in Borsad and Godhra, silent husband of young Jhaverba – sad, dear and wrapped in mystery; as the youth who was severe on himself and upon those taking him for granted, the last with the chip on the shoulder, the neglected fourth son in a family of impoverished peasants, born to Ladba of Nadiad and Jhaverbhai of Karamsad.” ……..
( excerpts from the book).
31 October is the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
