Long walk to freedom: An insider view into Kasturba’s life

Making unimaginable personal sacrifices, Kasturba never faltered in her unwavering commitment to Gandhi and the struggle for independence, as pages from her diary reveal

These are pages from the life of a remarkable figure from history — Kasturba, wife of Mohandas Gandhi. The narrative speaks to us from a hand-written diary that had almost fallen apart by the time it was discovered. The Lost Diary of Kastur, My Ba was found in an old trunk a few years ago, according to her great grandson and translator Tushar Gandhi, by the staff at the Gandhi Research Foundation while going through old materials at the Kasturba Ashram, Indore.

Reading these pages gives a special thrill. The diary spans only nine months, but such momentous months! Contained in the simple entries from January to September 1933, of not more than three or four lines each, we discover a story of prison sentences casually borne; an unwavering commitment to freedom and justice; and unimaginable personal sacrifice. Shining out of the simple sentences is a narrative of deep personal faith and determination to do what is right.

A good listener

The first strand in this homespun narrative of the freedom struggle is the sheer amount of hard work on the ground. The first entry in Kasturba’s diary, dated 22 January 1933: “I left the ashram and travelled through Borsad taluka at 8.30 in the evening. We slept at Bhadran that night.” The next day they leave Bhadran by bullock cart. The next day is at Bochasan; then Dharmaj; then Vadalaa; and so on, from village to village in rural Gujarat, interacting with girls and women, encouraging them to join the movement for freedom and for social reform.

Another element that stands out is the work of listening to people and learning from them. “Left to go to Limbasi, there met brothers and sisters and listened to their tales of happiness and woes, then returned.” There is a great lesson in this. For Kasturba, this form of listening, this attentiveness to the everyday struggles of ordinary people, is a form of love.

Within days of the first entry in the diary comes a cursory note about being arrested by the British government — along with other women — and taken into custody. “On 8-2-33, our case was conducted at Borsad. On 9 February we were sentenced and on 10 February we left in the morning and reached here in the evening.” The ‘here’ in this case was Sabarmati Jail.

In the jail, she finds that Meera Ben had also reached that same day. “So I was very happy. Both of us stayed together.”