letter to jawaharlal nehru for wishing him on his birthday
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Central Prison, Naini
October 26, 1930
My dear Indira,
On your birthday you have been in the habit of receiving presents and good wishes. Good wishes you will still have in full measure, but what present can I send you from Naini Prison? My presents cannot be very material or solid. They can be of the mind and spirit,…… Things that even the high walls of prison cannot stop.
You know sweetheart, how I dislike sermonising and doling out good advice …….. I have always thought that the best way to find out what is right and what is not right, what should be done and what should not be done, is not by giving a sermon, but by talking and discussing, and out of discussion sometimes a little bit of truth comes out. I have liked my talks with you and we have discussed many things, but the world is wide and beyond our world lie other wonderful and mysterious worlds …….. none of us need ever be bored or imagine …….. that we have learned everything worth learning and become very wise.
……. But what am I to do then? A letter can hardly take the place of a talk; at best it is a one-sided affair …… Imagine that I have made a suggestion to you for you to think over, as if we really were having a talk.
In history we read of great periods in the life of nations, of great men and women … do you remember how fascinated you were when you first read the story of Jeanne d’Arc, and how your ambition was to be something like her? Ordinary men and women are not usually heroic. They think of their bread and butter, of their children, of their household worries and the like. But a time comes when a whole people become interested in a great cause. Then history helps even simple, ordinary men and women to become heroes. Great leaders have something in them which inspires a whole people and makes them do great deeds ……… In India a great leader, full of love for all who suffer and eager to help them, has inspired our people to great actions and noble sacrifice. He has helped to make the starving, the poor and the oppressed free and happy.
Bapuji is in prison, but the magic of his message has stolen the hearts of India’s millions. Men and women, and even little children, come out of their little shells and become India’s soldiers of freedom. In India today we are making history, and you and I are fortunate to see this happening before our eyes and to take some part ourselves in this great drama.