Nehru’s rediscovery of India, and of his own Indianness—a process (as the reference to non-violence underlined) that was intertwined with his admiration of Mahatma Gandhi. He ‘found the whole countryside afire with enthusiasm and full of a strange excitement. Enormous gatherings would take place at the briefest notice by word of mouth.’ Roads would be built for him overnight to allow his car to pass; when his wheels got stuck in the soft mud, villagers would bodily lift his vehicle onto drier ground. ‘Looking at them and their misery and overflowing gratitude, I was filled with shame and
...more
