Saturday, January 16, 2010

IIPM News - Mahatma Gandhi's descendants scattered around the world !

Mahatma’s eldest son Harilal’s great granddaughter Anushraya is a technologist in St.Louis, Missouri, and great grandson Rahul is business director in Washington University. Another great grandson, Prabodh is a doctor who works in a village in Gujarat. Harilal’s grand daughter Neelam works as a school principal in Nausari, Gujarat. Her son Sameer is an eye surgeon who works in a village in Saurashtra. “We are following in the footsteps of our great grandfather. Bapu believed in leading a simple life and serving the poor people. That is why we also chose to live among the poor and help them in our own ways,” says Neelam.

Gandhi’s second son Manilal’s grandson, Satish, lives in Durban. He is a photographer, has three children, two daughters and a son. His eldest daughter, Misha works at a radio station in Durban. Manilal’s second granddaughter Uma Mistri is a professor of history in the University of Cape Town. Her husband Gajen Mistri teaches linguistics in the same university. The third grand daughter Kirti Menon is a director of education in South Africa and her husband Sunil Menon has his own software company. Ila, Manilal’s third child, runs the Gandhi Development Trust in Durban and she is also a former member of parliament in South Africa. Ila’s son Kush was murdered in the early 1990s in South Africa. He was in his early 30s. Ila suspects it could be political vendetta as he was politically active but no one was arrested.

Even though more than half the clan lives abroad, they are still connected to their country emotionally. Vinayak, investment manager in UK, grandson of Devdas Gandhi, has named his youngest daughter India’ He has three daughters and he is married to a Swedish woman.

Asked if the whole family gets together sometimes, Tushar replies, “The family has not met in the past two decades. But all the four sons were represented by members of their respective families when the ashes of Bapu were immersed in the Arabian Sea on his 60th death anniversary on January 30, 2008.” As many as fourteen members of the family had got together. Sumitra Kulkarni, daughter of Ramdas Gandhi, does not even remember the names of the entire family. Asked if she gets to meet everyone, she says,” We meet when there is a need.” According to Tushar, till his generation all cousins still know each other but those of the next generation are strangers to one other. He says: “We have this need to meet at least once. We plan to do that we have always been talking about the reunion but everybody is scattered all over the globe that it becomes impossible to coordinate. Although we keep talking about the reunion but nothing has been done so far. I don't know if we will end up doing that ever”. Neelam also gets to meet only cousins from her generation. “When anyone visits Gujarat, they come to meet me. We are trying to do something to meet the entire family”, says Neelam, Harilal’s granddaughter.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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