A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Rajmohan Gandhi saying he and his wife Usha would like to call on me any timethat suited me. As any Indian would, I felt very flattered that Bapu Gandhi’s grandson, also a descendant of CRajagopalachari should want to see me. I invited both of them to come the next evening at 7 pm and have a drink with me. They arrived at exact time but refused my offer of a drink as both were strict teetotallers.
I gave them sharbat. Rajmohan is a strapping six-footer; she is very beautiful. I opened the dialogue by asking him if he had decided to return to India for good. He shook his head and said, “No, I would like to stay in my job in Illinois University. I have retained my flat in Delhi so that we can visit our second home once a year.” I was disappointed as I think he could play an important role in our efforts to eradicate corruption rampant in our society. I came to know of Rajmohan Gandhi when he was leading the Moral Rearmament Movement in India and editing the magazine Himmat. Rajmohan has written several definitive biographies of Indian leaders including those of his grandfather, Bapu Gandhi and Rajagopalachari. Also of Ghaffar Khan, Vallabhai Patel. He fought an election of the Lok Sabha which he lost. I was in closer touch with him when he was editing The Indian Express from Madras. I was in Washington on a three-month grant from the Wilson Centre of the Smithsonian to update my two-volume History of the Sikhs.
He asked me to write an article on my faith. I complied and spelt out why I was agnostic and did not believe in the existence of God. A few days later I received a letter which went somewhat as follows: “Dear Uncle, I read in daddy’s paper that you think god does not exist. You are wrong. God visits us everyday. He talks to my daddy and mummy. He also talks to my brother and me. So there... Yours Supriya.” I wrote back to her: “Dear Supriya, I am glad to hear that god visits you every day and talks to your parents, your brother and you. But he does not visit or talk to me. Please send me his telephone number.” Then I put Rajmohan two questions which are imprinted in my mind. I asked: “Is there a god?” He replied: “I believe there is one. He has brought us together this evening.” I was baffled. They wanted to see me. I welcomed their visit. God has nothing to do with it. I put my second ques-tion: “Where does a person go when he or she dies?” “I don’t know for sure but I know we all go to the nice place.”
Travel by bus
While travelling on a crowded Kolkata bus many years ago, a friend and I stood so that two elderly women could sit down. There were several men seated, and one said to my friend, “Madam, you are standing on my foot.” “If you were a gentleman,” she shot back, “you’d be standing on your own.” (Contributed by Reeten Ganguly, Tezpur)
