An eternal father’s forgotten son – Harilal Gandhi – I
“Each morning I shudder to think what disgrace the newspapers would bring about you. I keep wondering where you are and what you eat. I want to meet you but don’t know where you would be. You had changed your religion which is your private affair, but you go asking ignorant and innocent people to follow your example. What do you know about religion?. People are liable to be led away because of your father’s name. If you continue like this you would be shunned by all. When you converted to Islam and said you would improve yourself, I was secretly happy. But all my hopes of you starting a sober life have been dashed”. — This is an excerpt from letter written by Kasturba Gandhi to her eldest son Harilal Gandhi, subsequent to his public conversion to Islam. According to the Mumbai based Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, where Gandhi stayed whenever he was in Mumbai, the letter was dated 27th September, 1936. Mani Bhavan is now a museum and a research center.
‘Harilal Gandhi rebelled most strongly. Renouncing all family ties in 1911, he embarked on a tragic path of self destruction. Converting to Muslim, he was an alcoholic, an, embezzler, with several arrests, public drunkenness. When Mohandas Gandhi died, he appeared in a derelict condition that few recognized him’. — This is a from an account of Harilal Gandhi by David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace in the People’s Almanac .
Not much is known of Mohandas Gandhi’s eldest son, Harilal Gandhi; but whatever little is known too, has big gaps. Today Harilal Gandhi is regarded as a failed son, a failed father and a failed citizen. “I was a slave of my passions when Harilal was conceived,” said his father Mohandas. Not much can be changed for Harilal today. He was a drunkard for sure, was in conflict with his father for sure, and had converted to Islam for sure. However most of the accounts related to his life seem to lack, even when it is authoritative. The book, ‘Harilal Gandhi: A Life’ by C.B. Dalal originally written in Gujarati and translated into English may in many ways be described, a closer portrait of Harilal.
With reminisces from family members, and an elaborate research clearly evident, the book deserves to be recognized as the closest English public account of Harilal. However it is sad that an account of such a profile, lacks too. The book acknowledges the fact that very little is known of Harilal and that a lot is rumor. The well known, and in most cases the only known fact of Harilal Gandhi is his conversion to Islam. Here the book points out that he converted to Islam on 14 May 1936, but goes astray saying that one reference points out that he converted in village Ponnani in Kerala, while other sources say it was Nagpur.
The book however has letters and translated accounts of people closely related to Harilal Gandhi. This includes his brothers and daughter in law. These throw more light on his personality and beyond. A man who was always in need of money for his liquor and who was well known to endlessly borrow had relinquished his rights to family property paving the way for its transfer. There are several instances where his actions and words, show him as a different person, at least for the bigger family, which is not commensurate with the perceived image of today. It is not uncommon to see families with three or more sons, where the eldest is in conflict with one or both parents. But has that hugely affected his life and the memories after it; given the fact that the man he was in conflict, was regarded as a nation’s father.
