Can We Hear Manu (Gandhi) Speak?

Abstract

In 1942, the recently bereaved Manu Gandhi arrived in Sevagram ashram, Wardha, to serve the aged Mahatma and his ailing wife Kasturba. In 1943, she was called to Poona, where the Mahatma and his associates were jailed. During that time, Manu began keeping a regular diary. Translated and published in 2019, the diary throws open the inner world of a lesser known Gandhi. This review article is a discursive reading of Manu’s daily diary. It begins by locating women in general and Manu in particular in contemporary Gandhiana. The contents of the diary are discussed subsequently, the focus being primarily on Manu as a young woman. Put differently, the article explores Manu’s feminine self (identity and agency) and its interface with larger questions of history such as nationalism and patriarchy. Finally, in an interrogative mode, it examines the possibility of retrieval of Manu’s (a woman’s) hitherto inaudible voice.