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| Edited By: DNA Sunday Team |Source: DNA |Updated: Dec 05, 2017, 02:00 PM IST
Historical fiction has become a popular genre and The Secret Diary of Kasturba fits right in. The genre works well to give a personal perspective to events that otherwise seem distant.
With the upsurge in subaltern writings, the perspective of a woman from a conservative family thrust willy-nilly onto the national stage is an interesting idea. The personal life of the famous is always intriguing, hence the popularity of Page 3. In The Secret Diary of Kasturba, glimpses into Gandhi’s personal and family life, and known events of historical and national importance are fascinating.
For example, after being thrown off the train in South Africa, he began fighting racism, which catapulted him into a leadership role there. Although he’d initially gone for a year – leaving behind his young wife and sons – this role meant that he couldn’t return to India as scheduled. In history, we read simply that he extended his stay. But in her ‘diary’, Kasturba writes movingly about her anticipation of his return, as a wife and mother, and her extreme disappointment, insecurities and sense of being let down at his unilateral decision to stay on.
Similarly, with his celibacy. Yet again, the decision was made without any consultation with the person most impacted, without apologies or an option of reversal. But whether extolled as a virtue to give moral strength and remove distractions, or reviled as abnormal and hypocritical, the full impact and unfairness of it comes through only from Kasturba’s perspective.
As we move further from his time, and with people who actually knew him dying away, the Mahatma is raised to a higher and higher pedestal. Increasingly, any suggestion about him, other than almost godliness, is unacceptable. And so, an important outcome of such ‘insights’ is that they make you think beyond the dry, uni-dimensional history books. In this case, it forces you to take the Mahatma down from his pedestal and look at him as a man – with intense sensual desires, a husband suspicious of his wife, a father with expectations, a son who struggles to live up to family values and so on.
That said, too many diary entries are superficial, dealing with Kasturba’s worries about her kids, herself and her marriage. This is perfectly acceptable – almost necessary – up to a point. But something’s missing. After Gandhi is truly involved in the national movement, Kasturba’s perspectives often lack the personal aspect – becoming a ‘went there, did that’ narration. It’s especially disappointing when she emerges as a national leader herself. One expects more about her feelings, anxieties and expectations.
As a ‘diary’ what’s jarring is that the early chapters end with ominous portends of momentous events. In a diary format, it’s like foretelling the future – a future we already know. Also, many entries talk about things Kasturba could not have known like her eldest son’s inferiority complex with regard to his father, or his feelings for his wife. She could have talked about it in hindsight, having spoken with her son. But her real time discussions leave one bemused.
