Ashvin desai biography of mahatma

He lost his mother at the age of 7. He married Durgabehn at the age of Desai met Mahatma Gandhi for the first time in and two years later, he joined Sabarmati Ashram. He wrote a diary from 13 November to 14 Augustone day before his death. It was a complete chronological record of his life events and happenings with Gandhi. When Gandhi was arrested in Punjab inhe named Desai his heir.

He has been associated with Gandhi in politics and freedom struggle movement. Atmakatha, in five parts is his autobiographical work. He started the Young India and Navjivan weeklies and later handed over to Gandhi. He also started the monthly Yugadharma and edited the daily Hindustan. He had a good memory, keen intellect and beautiful handwriting.

He was fond of Gujarati literature and read books with perseverance. Although he had not studied Sanskrit, he had read Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita and Upanishads with the help of commentaries and explanations. Very fond of Bhajans, he used to sing them early in the morning. Mahadev was educated in a manner befitting a brilliant son of a poor but cultured father.

He got married to Durgabehn inwhen the bridegroom was thirteen years old and the bride twelve. After the marriage, Mahadev passed his ashvin desai biography of mahatma examination the following year, precisely at the age of He stood first in the Surat High School and maintained it in the Matriculation examination. Thereafter, he joined Elphinstone College in January Haribhai's salary at that time was forty rupees a month; therefore, it was almost impossible for him to meet the cost of Mahadev's higher education.

In the circumstances, Mahadev applied for free admission to Gokuldas Tejpal Boarding House and was, fortunate in getting the admission. He unexpectedly got a college scholarship which was earlier gracefully rejected by his friend Vaikunth Lallubhai Mehta in his favour. This enabled him to continue his studies without being a burden on his father.

Mahadev had no inclination for games, indoor or outdoor; nor could he play any. He liked walking. When the Navajivan was stationed at Pankor Naka and Sarangpur Gate in Ahmedabad, he often used to walk from the Sabarmati Ashram to the office and back. He walked briskly, at an average of four miles an hour. To get accustomed to long marching practice, he always got up early in the morning and walked a distance of nine miles to and fro.

Even after such a tiresome walk of 18 miles, he used to work for Gandhi the whole day. From there he would start on foot, at noon, for Sevagram, a distance of five and a half miles, and walk back in the evening to his home in Maganwadi. At times he would go and come back, twice a day, in the scorching heat of Central India, covering twenty two miles in a single day.

Even after such long walks, he did not put away his routine activity of reading, writing and spinning. In spite of his lack of interest in games, Mahadev was full of sportsmanship. He overlooked defects in others, but was always ready to see and acquire their virtues. He may be labeled a man of serious temperament but was warmhearted, jovial in nature, and possessed the art of combining fun and humour in a natural and easy way in the midst of serious and important work, so much so that there was always around him an atmosphere of playfulness, mirth and enthusiasm.

This quality of his endeared him to all. After passing B. But since the subject of his choice was not prescribed that year, he opted for LLB On the other hand, in order not to burden his father, he decided to improve his educational qualification on his own and sought to earn his livelihood by some kind of a job. He got one with the Oriental Translator's office.

During this time the Gujarat Forbes Society announced a prize of one thousand rupees for the best Gujarati translation of On compromise written by Lord Morley. Mahadev offered himself for the competition and won the prize. He passed his LLB examination by the end of So Mahadev decided to cast his lot with Ahmedabad, with a view to ashvin desai biography of mahatma establishment expenditure.

He stayed for 15 to 18 months in Ahmedabad and when his father retired, Mahadev with the help of his friend Vaikunth L Mehta secured an appointment as inspector in the Central Co-operative Bank of Bombay. But his destiny was fast drawing him into the folds of Gandhi. In Mayhe started his Ashram in a hired bungalow near Kochrab in Ahmedabad.

After some time, he issued a draft of objectives and rules for the proposed Ashram and requested his friends and well-wishers, all over the country, to send their opinion and criticism. Responding to that Mahadev and Narahari Parikh offered their criticism jointly and awaited a reply from Gandhi. Shortly thereafter, Gandhi came to speak at a public meeting in Premabhai Hall.

Mahadev and Narahari followed Gandhi when he started back for his Ashram. Intercepting him on his way, they inquired if he had received their letter. In reply Gandhi said: "Yes, I have received a letter signed by two persons. Are you the two? Thereupon Gandhi took them to the Ashram and explained his ideals and his concept for nearly an hour and a half.

When they came out, it had began to drizzle and at the same time something was stirring within their hearts too. Silently they reached Ellis Bridge, and Mahadev broke the silence: "Narahari, I have a mind to go and sit at the feet of this man". This was their spontaneous response, the first springing up of a desire to join the Ashram. Mohanlal Pandya and Dayaljibhai were the two persons who strengthened their initiation and ultimately led them both into the hands of Gandhi.

Narahari Parikh was the first to join Gandhi's Ashram in Apri Kaka Kalelkar had already started living in the Ashram when Narahari Parikh went there. Mahadev had to make up his mind; nonetheless, he continued to remain in touch with the Ashram and especially with Gandhi. It was during one such meeting in Bombay that Gandhi expressed his mind, in the following words, to Mahadev Desai:.

It is not without reason that I have asked you to visit me every day. I want you to come and stay with me. I have found in you just the type of young man for whom I have been searching for the last two years. Will you believe me if I tell you that I have got in you the man I wanted-the man to whom I can entrust all my work some day and be at ease, and on whom I can rely with confidence?

You have to come to me I am confident that you will be useful to me in various ways because of your good qualities. Desai was for the first time arrested and sentenced to a year in prison in He was in fact Home and Foreign Secretary combined. He managed everything. He made all the arrangements. He was equally at home in the office, the guest-house and the kitchen.

He looked after many guests and must have saved 10 years of Gandhi's life by diverting from him unwanted visitors". Desai created a sensation by bringing out a hand-written cyclostyled newspaper after the Independent's printing press was confiscated by the British government. Desai was sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment for his writings in — his first stint in prison.

His report describing the life inside an Indian jail, published in Young India and Navajivancompelled the British authorities to bring about some drastic jail reform measures. The following year he became chairman of the executive committee of the Satyagraha Ashram and won a prize from the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad for his article in Navajivan.

He was the only person to accompany Gandhi when the latter met with King George V. The colonial government, under the new ViceroyLord Willingdonwas determined to crush the movement and ordered a clampdown on the Indian National Congress and its activists. InDesai was arrested again and sent to prison with Gandhi and Sardar Patel.

Following his release inhe was re-arrested and detained in the Belgaum Jail. It was during this time in prison that he wrote Gita According to Gandhi which was posthumously published in He was arrested on the morning of 9 August and, till his death of a massive heart-attack six days later, was interred with Gandhi at the Aga Khan Palace.

Ashvin desai biography of mahatma

Desai was 50 at the time of his death. Mahadev Desai was an outstanding writer, at ease with GujaratiBengali and English. He is highly regarded as a translator and writer in Gujarati. He started translating when he was studying in college. Later it was published as Satyagrahni Maryada. Their union in pre-war Berlin, a time when intercultural marriages were rare, was a testament to their love and the spirit of breaking boundaries.

Shortly after their marriage, the family moved to New Delhi, where Anita Desai was raised alongside her two elder sisters and a brother. Her upbringing was a rich tapestry of languages and cultures. She grew up speaking Hindi with her neighbours, German at home with her mother, and was also fluent in Bengali, Urduand English. English, however, became her literary language as she first learned to read and write it at school.

Desai's literary journey commenced at an astonishingly young age. She began writing in English when she was just seven years old and published her first story at the tender age of nine. This early passion for storytelling laid the foundation for a prolific writing career. Inshe obtained a B. The following year, she married Ashvin Desai, a renowned director of a computer software company and author.

This union blessed her with four children, including the Booker Prize-winning novelist Kiran Desai. Desai's life as a mother was also intertwined with her literary endeavours. Her four children were often taken to Thul, near Alibagh, for weekends.