Recovering Gandhi

  Mahadevbhai: Mahatma’s Publicist Nikhil Desai, Gandhian Researcher {In Nachiketa Desai, ed. (2023), Mahadev Desai MG’s Frontline Reporter , pp. 536-540 excerpted from a longer essay A Disciple, Servant, Son Who Died so His Teacher, Master, Father Would Live, Draft 1 7Dec22} M ahadev Desai was more than a chronicler of events. He was a quiet, diligent, self-effacing servant but nonetheless sharp and stubborn follower, a friend, a scholarly disciple, an alter-ego of and a son to M K Gandhi. He was a meticulous observer, a relationship manager, and as a translator he brought Gandhi and their India to the English-speaking world where Gandhi’s legacy survives and keeps growing. The book, Mahadev Desai: Mahatma Gandhi’s Frontline Reporter, inspired me to examine these issues: i) what the Mahatma saw in Mahadev; ii) how Mahadev cultivated the foreign, particularly US, press and intelligentsia to show Mohandas and his associates; and rather scanty coverage and analysis of Mah...