Reaction to Gandhi's fast

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), independent India's first prime minister was also a prolific and a skilled writer. He wrote on many subjects and was able to tackle each with deep insight. This book is culled from Nehru's writings and speeches and contains 200 letters, articles, book extracts, political statements, prison diary entries and early personal correspondence. There are also some rare photographs that bring alive the text in this reader. Another book on Nehru may seem a bit excessive but this anthology brings Nehru to the readers in his own words.

5 May 1933

My dear Bapu,

I feel utterly at a loss and do not know what to say to you. Religion is not familiar ground for me, and as I have grown older I have definitely drifted away from it. I suppose I have something else in its place, something other than just intellect and reason, which gives me strength and hope. Apart from this indefinable and indefinite urge, which may just have a tinge of religion in it and yet is wholly different from it. I have grown to rely entirely on the workings of the mind. Perhaps they are weak supports to rely upon, but, search as I will, I can see no better ones. Religion seems to me to lead to emotion and sentimentality and they are still more unreliable guides. Intuition "" undoubtedly there is such a thing, though where it comes from I cannot say; perhaps from the stored-up experiences at the back of the mind, the subconscious self.

The Harijan question is bad, very bad, but it seems to me incorrect to say that there is nothing so bad in all the world. I think I could point to much that was equally bad and even worse. All over the world there is the same Hari-jan question in various forms. Is it not the outcome of special causes? Surely it is due to something more than mere ignorance and ill will. To remove these causes or to neutralize their effect appears to be the only way to deal with the roots of the matter. But why should I write of these matters now! I do not want to argue in this letter as the stage for argument seems to be past.

It is hard to be so far from you, and yet it would be harder to be near you. This crowded world is a very lonely place, and you want to make it still lonelier. Life and death matter little, or should matter little. The only thing that matters is the cause that one works for, and if one could be sure that the best service to it is to die for it, then death would seem simpler. I have loved life "" the mountains and the sea, the sun, and rain and storm and snow, and animals, and books and art, and even human beings "" and life has been good to me. But the idea of death has never frightened me; from a distance it seems fitting enough as the crown of one's endeavour. Yet, at close quarters, it is not pleasant to contemplate.

The last fourteen or fifteen years have been a wonderful time for me, ever since I had the good fortune to be associated with you in various activities. Life became fuller and richer and more worthwhile, and that is a dear and precious memory which nothing can take from me. And whenever the future happens to be dark, this vision of the past will relieve the gloom and give strength.

Yours affly.,
Jawahar

The Oxford India Nehru edited by Uma Iyengar
Pages - 758
Price - Rs 795
Publisher - Oxford University Press