Named ‘Kastur’ after the scent the world knows as musk, she was the youngest of three siblings in a wealthy family of Kapadias, who had well established overseas business in textiles, grain and cotton.
Known to the world as Kasturba, wife of a man the world venerated as a prophet of peace, Kastur the child bride, who married the boy next door, Mohandas was self righteous and overbearing husband, says a new book “The Secret Diary of Kasturba“, an imaginary chronicle of the life of Kasturba by Neelima Dalmia Adhar.
Historical facts form the backdrop of this book but there was “no secret diary” maintained by Kasturba”, says Adhar.
The book is written in a diary form with Kastur penning her experiences in Porbandar where she was born on April 11, 1869- six months before the birth of Mohandas Gandhi who was born in neighbourhood on October 2, 1869 and, early life with young Mohandas, her days in Africa and Mohandas’s rise as a mass leader.
