Part 3 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

The links to the other parts of the review:
Part 1 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 2 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 4 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography


Jawaharlal Nehru's intellect dissects different players' psyche incisively. He refers to the discussions by the 'Liberals', who attended the Round Table on India in England. In his view, the Liberals shared more gossip about different personalities in England than the principles. He also finds it amusing that the businessmen and others started interacting with Gandhiji and the Congress members, when they felt that the Congress was showing promise of succeeding in their struggle. Nehru talks about opportunistic behavior of both political and business communities. My view about the 'Liberals' and the the masses in terms of gossiping about the important persons in England and India respectively is as follows. Generally, people unknowingly attribute their own imperfections and weaknesses to the others. Their own limitations restrict the achievable goals. When the others achieve such goals, these people attribute special powers to the achievers. This mentality relieves them from burden of trying to achieve the same.

At the First Round Table meeting held in London, nothing substantial was achieved. Gandhiji wanted to meet Viceroy Irwin in India. This led to Gandhi - Irwin Pact. Nehru was with Gandhiji in New Delhi through the meetings leading to the pact.  (I learned from wikipedia that Irwin inaugurated 'New Delhi' around that time.)


Nehru offers his insights on Gandhiji's way of working and principles. Gandhiji believed in interacting with his opponents also to influence them psychologically. This follows from Gandhiji's firm belief in spirituality of every individual. Nehru views this as Gandhiji's power of personality.  Nehru was relatively more rational about all aspects. And anything which can't be explained with the help of the then known facts, Nehru terms them as 'metaphysical'! But when human beings are involved, many influencing factors are psychological or/and spiritual too. Gandhiji, could communicate effectively even with the opponents; since he had deeper understanding and appreciation of spiritual 'goodness' of every human being.  Since Gandhiji believed in truthfulness, action and Karmayoga, he could patiently involve the 'opponents' also in arriving at the solutions, both long term and short term.


Though I have read Gandhiji's autobiography, 'My Experiments with Truth', it is not enough to understand the evolution of his greatness. The 'autobiography' covers Gandhiji's life only up to certain period and it largely consists of his diary entries. Gandhiji's practice of Karmayoga based on eternal principles, transcended beyond all. He could engage almost everybody. An incident in Gandhiji's life I had missed, which I noticed in the movie, 'Gandhi'. A Hindu poor man approached Gandhiji asking for an advice. The poor man's son was killed by Muslims in a riot, and the poor man wanted to avenge the death. Gandhiji advises the poor man to adopt a Muslim boy. Though the solution looks too noble for common people to follow, it solves both long term and short term problems for all involved. Avenging is a basic instinct, which may bring immediate sense of natural justice. This, in Gandhiji's words, is a case of 'an eye for an eye leads to the world full of blind people.' Avenging does not solve the problems; rather, it aggravates. Simple act of pardoning may bring peace immediately. But a gesture of helping in return will awaken the inherent goodness and nobility amongst the opponents too, thus leading to long term harmony.We, human beings, (and probably other organisms too) are genetically designed to prove ourselves above the others. If some body hurts us; we try to show that we can also hurt them harder. The same is true for showing the kindness, nobility and other good gestures; the same gets reciprocated in higher quantity and better quality by the recipient. This is the fundamental principle behind the pay forward mechanism fueling virtuous cycle leading to faster evolution.


Nehru found many of Gandhiji's thoughts to solve the problems at spiritual or metaphysical level. He also appreciated Gandhiji's concept of democracy, where in Gandhiji wanted to bring moral pressure on the governments staying away from the executive. Although, Nehru had different ideas basically influenced by socialistic thinking. Nehru pragmatically tried to draw Gandhiji into socialistic mindset. But Gandhiji's had a radical thinking in the lines of 'Ramarajya'.


Nehru refers to long winding meetings Gandhiji had with Lord Irwin, the viceroy, and the breaks between talks for a few days to consult India office of the British Government in England. The talks would cover debating about seemingly petty issues of usage of word 'suspension' against 'discontinuation'... In the later period the breaks got longer and many Congress members left for their provinces. At last, on the 4th March night around 2AM (ie. of 5th March,1931) Gandhiji returned after a meeting with Irwin to inform that the pact was finalized and accepted. The Satyagraha was to be discontinued. Though, the discontinuation of Satyagraha was not acceptable until the achievement of Independence, respecting Gandhiji's involvement, Nehru accepted it rather reluctantly.


I referred to wikipedia entry about Gandhi - Irwin Pact. In wikipedia, a true objective of Satyagraha is provided as "... not to achieve the physical elimination or moral breakdown of an adversary—but, through suffering at his hands, to initiate a psychological processes that could make it possible for minds and hearts to meet. In such a struggle, a compromise with an opponent was neither heresy nor treason, but a natural and necessary step. If it turned out that the compromise was premature and the adversary was unrepentant, nothing prevented the Satyagrahi from returning to non-violent battle." On the wikipedia link, one may also notice Churchill's quote as follows; "...at the nauseating and humiliating spectacle of this one-time Inner Temple lawyer, now seditious fakir, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy’s palace, there to negotiate and parley on equal terms with the representative of the King Emperor."


Nehru further talks about the his dissatisfaction about Gandhi-Irwin Pact and Gandhiji's efforts to soothe him by redefining the pact for him in a morning walk in New Delhi. He also shares his inability to understand Gandhiji even after close association for nearly 15 years. Gandhiji also shared his own problem of unpredictable behaviour, sometimes. In the hindsight, the pact seems to have given temporary relief to the Congress and brought it to the negotiation table. In the backdrop of the above statement by Churchill and the other parties sympathetic to the British Government terming the Congress members' behavior as impudence, the pact elevated the Congress status as legitimate player. This lead to the participation of the Congress in the second Round Table on India in England.


Nehru also appreciated the discipline of the Congress party members in following the orders from the top leaders. In a way, The Congress party had evolved to be highly disciplined over a long period of nearly a decade. Nehru observed and appreciated this development. For a mass movement like this, -or any endeavour including building highly successful global organization from the beginning, - needs tremendous patience and resources to build  processes and systems. But more importantly, the discipline amongst the members. No wonder, the leaders at the helm should have great energy, intellect, capacity to withstand unexpected jolts and the finger on the pulse of  the masses. If we look at the pact signed by Gandhiji with Irwin, instantaneous reaction by Nehru was to reject it but for Gandhiji's acceptance. Nehru wondered; should he have rejected his leader, or break away? Nehru had to accept because of Gandhiji. This shows the tremendous responsibility a leader needs to handle. In any given momentous decision, the decision itself may spring a surprise and seem to be not in line with the larger good but it may have to be accepted and adhered to proceed further. In this case leader needs to convince the followers; and also ensure that the followers are disciplined enough to handle the situation well.


In a way, after Gandhi - Irwin Pact, the Congress had relatively better times. The Congress got recognition, many opportunists sensed the ascendancy of the Congress and started developing ties. The released Congress members were  getting hero's welcome by the masses. 


Though Nehru reluctantly accepted the Gandhi-Irvin Pact; when he had to share his views in Karachi Congress Session. Though he wanted to convey otherwise, in the last minute before his speech, he conveyed his acceptance of the pact. He feels that this was his best speech compared to the earlier well prepared  ones.


Nehru shares his Ceylon vacation and his visits to South Indian provinces. He notes industrialization of the then Mysore state. He mentions specifically about the flag hoisting in Bangalore; the flag was promptly destroyed! Looks like, South India was relatively less affected by the freedom movement, at least until 1930.


In view of the uncertainties, Gandhiji was committed to peaceful implementation of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Hence Gandhiji's presence  for the India Round Table 2 was not yet confirmed; in the last minute Gandhiji's participation was decided. Nehru accompanied Gandhiji all the way to Mumbai. Nehru and the other leaders had to grapple with the issues in India in the absence of Gandhiji.


One of the vexing issues was of the peasants. The farm produces' prices were still low. It was hard for tenants to pay the rents. The government officers were not sympathetic to their problems. The peasants were being dispossessed of the land they used to till. Nehru shares his insight on the village economy. Except for big zamindars, all suffered at the hands of the British rule. In spite of appeals by the peasants, the British Government didn't allow for remissions in the rents, as the farm produce prices were low. As the Congress' Satyagraha was 'suspended/discontinued' they conveyed the tenants to pay the dues. Such paid dues were adjusted against the earlier dues and the payers were still dispossessed of their lands on the pretext of not paying the latest rents. When Nehru and the other Congressmen, discussed with an officer to resolve the issue, he plainly admitted that they would rather not attempt to answer or solve the problem. This shows the clear apathy of the British officers towards the Indian peasants. The Congressmen were constrained to start the Satyagraha, in view of the disturbances in Bengal and frontier provinces. 


The new Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, seemed to have come with a brief to crush the Congress. he passed many ordinances and proscriptions. On the way to meet Gandhiji after his  return in Mumbai; Nehru was arrested. Even Gandhiji was arrested. So 1932 started with such developments. Whatever momentum the Congress had gained in 1930 and 31, that was lost in the next years! that set Nehru to introspect on the matter.


Nehru noticed that the opportunists and the 'Liberals' were too keen to help the British by attending the 3rd Round table, largely focusing on the largesse doled out by the British and thus helped the British to draft the constitution for the British to continue to rule India..Nehru muses on the double moral standards adopted by the British almost like Nazis. Though Nehru worried about not achieving the independence, he feared the the 3rd Round table's success in the hands of the opportunists!


The British atrocities increased against the Indians within the prisons and elsewhere. The success of the Congress movement turned out to be more uncertain. 


The above situation, in view of the recent research findings about the grit to follow through hard times throws interesting insights. One of the the insights is this; the 'enlightenment' of person leads to the calling for a larger purpose. The enlightenment itself is a function of intellect, character, capability, education (both formal and largely informal) and wisdom. The purpose of the calling encompasses larger population or nobility based on the extent of  the person's outlook and depth of understanding through multiple layers. The grit is function of the person's extent of espousing the ideals. Together these all lead to the path of greatness for the individual.


An insight occurred while at a chess game, the pawn's 'promotion' symbolises the enlightenment, a person experiences through the hurdles and hardships. Such enlightenment coupled with the purpose and grit makes the person the leader of the masses. Gandhiji grew up as one such leader, by continuously solving the people's ever increasing complex problems in the most effective way for all the stakeholders. Gandhiji was eyed by all the political parties to have him on their side. When Gandhiji aligned with the Congress, the others and the press, -which was largely lenient to the Government on 'pragmatic' considerations,- always dreamed of 'muddle headed' Gandhiji being dispelled from the Congress. Nehru felt that 'the muddleheadedness of Gandhiji was  the opponents' imagination. But if such muddleheadedness yielded results so be it, almost in the lines of Lincoln's comment on one of his General's weakness.                                                                             
                                                                       

The links to the other parts of the review:
Part 1 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 2 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 4 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

Part 2 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

The links to the other parts of the review:

Part 1- Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 3 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 4 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

Any fundamental revolution gains momentum through many tributaries.  Such confluence takes place over a long period without giving any idea about the final outcome. Even the relative influences of the tributaries are difficult to identify. The demands, pace and thought processes of different players in the movement differ; many times they tend to be counterproductive. The movement itself will go through complicated and convoluted path before delivering its final outcome.Though the leaders have to be focused on the final outcome; simultaneously, they  need to manage the actions and aspirations of these disparate elements. Jawaharlal Nehru provides the vantage view of the movement and his own thought process, in addition to the glimpse on the influencing factors and developments.

Jawaharlal Nehru's thought that the final goal of the movement was to achieve political independence for India. It  was not articulated explicitly by the Congress until 1928. But some of the leaders, mainly Motilal Nehru, was opposed to the idea, at least in 1928, when he was chosen as the President of Congress. Motilal Nehru was so much opposed to the idea of Independence as the goal, he was not ready to accept the President position in that year's Congress meeting, if the independence resolution was to be passed. Jawaharlal Nehru captures the tension between his father and himself intimately. Ultimately the resolution postponed the adoption of independence as the goal by a year. Jawaharlal Nehru shares his experiences of handling of the delicate issue. He also talks about the Independence League, which was to put pressure on adoption of independence as the ultimate goal. As the League's members were largely also members of the Congress, it never took off fully. 

Jawaharlal Nehru had the ability to see through many layers of the dynamically evolving situations. His  rational outlook, better understanding of global developments and pragmatic approach helped him to lead the movement very well. In 1924, while the Congress's annual meeting was held in Belgaum, Gandhiji was elected as the President and Nehru was chosen as the General Secretary. Nehru notes that Gandhiji was the super president of Congress by then and himself was semi permanent General Secretary. The emergence of Jawaharlal Nehru as the executive leader of the movement can be attributed to his superior execution and organizing skills. Gandhiji provided spiritual and ideological leadership through formulation and implementation of non-violent non cooperation movement. Jawaharlal Nehru's capability to organize and execute  pushed him to the helm at Trade Union Congress too. Nehru admits humbly to his relative lack of understanding of labor issues and socialism compared to other trade union leaders.

Jawaharlal Nehru notes the continued detachment of Gandhiji from political developments in Congress and through out the nation. He appreciates the efforts put by Gandhiji in Khadi movement but wonders about the correlation between the movement and political goals. Simultaneously, Jawaharlal Nehru admits that Gandhiji could connect with the masses throughout the nation through such efforts, though this placed huge burden on Congress machinery. Nehru also wonders about Gandhiji's concept of daridranarayan, seemingly spiritual glorification of poverty. Nehru believed that poverty should have to be tackled by economic means and efforts rather than adopting it or expecting the rich to dole through their trusts. This is where, Jawaharlal Nehru shone in having pragmatic approach to the problems faced. Additionally, he could leverage the strengths of personalities and movements to direct the energy to articulate and achieve the goals of the movement.

Jawaharlal Nehru shares behind-the-scenes developments at the time of his election as the President of Lahore Congress session in 1929. Mahatma Gandhiji was initially proposed as the President. Since he declined, the choice was Jawaharlal Nehru. Both the Nehrus became the presidents contiguously for the Congress sessions in 1928 and 1929 but they had diagonally opposite viewpoints and resolutions. Jawaharlal Nehru shares his thoughts on being one of the youngest presidents and the pride of his father. He notes that Maulalna Abdul Kalam was the youngest president, who was in better side of forties, when he got elected as the president. And Gopalakrishn Gokhale was also very young president. Finally, Congress unanimously adopted the resolution of Independence at the session at the strike midnight of the 31st December 1929. Coincidentally, this completed a year's postponement planned in the previous year as part of that year's resolution.

Though the resolution was adopted, at the backdrop of huge mass of Hindus at Kumbh celebrations in Allahabad (Prayag), Nehru wondered about the success in mobilizing masses to achieve Independence for India. Nehru reminisces about  the crowds thronging to see Nehrus and one of his guests commented he was being treated like a hero. That sets off deep introspection in Jawaharlal Nehru.

The endearing aspect about Nehru is his self deprecation. He says that he was an average person, being showered with infinite appreciation by the masses. The rumor mills had made him and Nehrus greater than what they were, in terms of their laundry being done in Paris and Prince of Wales being close to him. Nehru claims that such rumors persisted in spite of repeated denials. Many times, in India or may be with less educated masses elsewhere too, the issue may be true because they can't expect their leaders to be ordinary human beings. He mentions that, in such situations the leaders need to have great sense of humor to tolerate all the adulation. He even admits to his own desire to laugh off at grand speeches made by he and his contemporaries. His  family members' raillery of the grand titles bestowed on him, among others, used to provide balance from the unrealistic adulation outside. He concludes his introspection by saying, '... the capacity for endurance and perseverance in spite of hard knocks is essential for those who wants to dabble in great undertakings.' He also goes further to mention that he particularly didn't like being ascetic,... at least until his values change. Not only Nehru provides his allegiance to pursue larger purpose for the benefit of the masses in spite of hardships faced, he didn't lose zest for life. This is where Nehru differs from Gandhiji. But he had the noble quality of being idealistically pragmatic and open to ideas.

After  the announcement of Congress resolution of independence, Nehru and the other leaders were wondering about the ways and means to operationalize their resolution, on the backdrop of reducing prices. At the same time Gandhiji floated his 11 principles, which were spiritual in nature. Nehru was in a shock about how to correlate these principles with the initiatives for independence. Gandhiji also gave a hint about 'Dandi Salt March' as an antidote to Salt Act. Nehru could not comprehend  the 'lowly' salt's significance for the movement. Gandhiji's movement started  forcing Congress committee to come out with fallback measures. ....... When the salt march caught up like 'prairie on fire', Nehru appreciated Gandhiji's connection with the masses. If Gandhiji was in religiously inclined spiritual quest which made him to get connected with masses; Nehru was a rational organizer to deliver the results quickly and effectively. But both had larger purpose in mind. Though many times the views and practices conflicted, Nehru was quick to identify positive aspects of Gandhiji's principles and would align with it.

Two great takeaways from the above paragraphs: 1) While we plan for great missions, we should be ready to sacrifice comforts and be ready to bear the hardships. Our perseverance in spite of hardships prepares us for  converting greater challenges into opportunities. But the success is unpredictable, that is how very few are left in the arena. 2) Join hands with complementing leaders. They may compensate our own blind spots. We need to cooperate with the leaders, to compensate for their blind spots.

Nehru ruminates his days in Naini jail and largely talks about the problems faced by the prisoners and reforms to be introduced. He also draws parallels to divide and rule applied to the prisoners and the same principles applied subtly to the larger population outside the prisons through out India. One of the outstanding aspect of Nehru is to see through the clutter and understand the principles playing behind them. Additionally , he leveraged such principles for larger good. He also writes about different types of freedom fighters who had more or less colluded with British attending the India Round Table being held in London that time. There were a few  who were not seeking complete independence from the British.They were playing according to the wishes of the British rulers.

My observation from this book and 'Team of Rivals', on which Lincoln movie is based, is as follows. In any great endeavor, we come across many leaders and players. They all come with individual intellectual and execution capabilities. Additionally, their individual larger purposes are limited by individual constraints. Given the nature of the movements unpredictability and uncertainty, they chose to restrict them selves to relatively shorter or longer tenure of the movement to define the goals. The leaders, who pursue the longer journey disdain at the ones who chose the shorter journeys. At the same time, the leaders with larger purpose and objectives need to pragmatically manage the tensions between such unique leaders. Here, Jawaharlal Nehru refers to the role of zamindars in kisans' refusal to pay the taxes, the role of newspapers to stop the operations in response to the calls given by Congress, some of the break away teams from Congress, many times unknowingly colluding with the British Government.

When Nehru was in Naini jail, his wife Kamala Nehru also plunged into the movement. Her action was not opposed by Motilal Nehru. Jawaharlal Nehru fondly remembers Kamla Nehru's impromptu statement to the press about following the footsteps of her husband alluding that she was more of a feminist than the statement makes her to be. Nehru also refers to the meeting held with the British, Gandhiji, Sarojini Naidu, Vallabh Bhai Patel, Motilal Nehru in Yerwada jail in Pune. He recounts the train journey arranged by the Government between Naini and Yerwada skipping larger stations to avoid crowds. But the larger number of people still managed to come to smaller stations to see the leaders!

Jawaharlal Nehru sadly remembers the last days of Motilal Nehru. In spite of chronic health problems Motilal Nehru continued to put efforts in realizing the dream of independence. Motilal Nehru was completely bed ridden and his health was very delicate. Gandhiji joined him at home after release from Yerwada jail. On 6th February, 1931, Motilal Nehru passed away in Lucknow and his body was brought to Allahabad to cremate on the banks of Ganga  river. Gandhiji addressed the people at funeral with moving words and brought some comfort to the grieving family by staying with them for a few days. Jawaharlal Nehru's mind went through denial for sometime, he had almost sent a telegram inviting Motilal Nehru  to a resort in Ceylon. He also mentions about the letter he received from Motilal Nehru, which was written in 1926. The letter had missed him on his journey to Europe and found its way after 5 years.

The links to the other parts of the review:

Part 1- Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 3 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 4 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

Part 1 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

The links to the other parts of the review:

Part 2 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

Part 3 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

Part 4 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography

After a lot of trepidation, I started reading Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography. I had to tackle two issues, how relevant is his autobiography after so many years and is it worth reading nearly 600 pages of it? I have read Mahatma Gandhi's 'My Experiments with Truth'. I could understand timeless principles he came up with and the genesis of those principles. I thought, probably I will understand evolution of some of the principles Jawaharlal Nehru developed and lived by. Another stimulus for this undertaking was recently published classic article in Readers' Digest of November 2012. As for the length of the book, I consoled myself that I can complete a few pages a day, whenever I could afford to get.  Ultimately, I took the plunge! ...And I am not regretting the decision! Due to the length of the review, this has been divided in parts.

Jawaharlal Nehru gives background about his family in the first chapter. Their family is a Kashmiri Brahmin family, which moved to Delhi at the time of Mughals. Their original surname was Kaul, one of his great grandfather got a title and some area as a 'jahagir' on the banks of Jamuna in Delhi. Based on the jahagir, the surname got changed to 'Nehar Kaul', and ultimately just 'Nehru'. Jawaharlal Nehru's grandfathers moved to Allahabad from Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru's Grandfather was working with British Government.

Jawaharlal's father Motilal Nehru was the youngest among the siblings. After studies Motilal Nehru became a successful lawyer in Allahabad and built a huge bungalow, Anand Bhawan. Jawaharlal Nehru's childhood was  of a typical affluent family in India of that time. His father used to throw parties near the swimming pool in the house's premises. Jawaharlal fondly remembers that one of the senior Congress member didn't know swimming and used to keep himself in the safer area within the swimming pool. Nehru was tutored by Ferdinand T Brooks, who introduced him to theosophy & science. Jawaharlal attended a few meetings of Theosophical Society along with Mr. Brooks.

Jawaharlal Nehru fondly remembers his Harrow School days (1905-1907) with very few students from India, that too largely from Indian Royalty!. He talks about a prince, who was having bad times in the school with other students. And the student used to threaten others that he would avenge when they come to his state! Obviously, this did not improve the matters for the poor boy! Largely, Jawaharlal Nehru was just above average. He developed interest for English fiction and poetry. He was influenced by  G.M. Trevelyan's Garibaldi books.  TLargely, Iam writing the review based on memory after reading. The chances are some of the facts might be mixed up. To reduce the damage, I have also referred to wikipedia including the reference to the sentence on Garibaldi books. Then Jawaharlal moved to Trinity College of Cambridge University (1907-1910) to study science subjects (biology, chemistry,..). He recollects visits by a few Indian Congress leaders visiting Cambridge University to galvanize Indians for freedom struggle in India. Jawaharlal Nehru was little taken aback by one such leaders who was little too loud for just a bunch of Indian students! Lala Lajpat Rai made an impression on Jawaharlal Nehru. After his study in Cambridge University, Nehru studied at Inner Temple (1910 - 1912). Mahatma Gandhi was called to Inner Temple before proceeding to India in 1891.

Jawaharlal Nehru fondly remembers a misadventure he had in England. Jawaharlal went to take a dip in a stream but unfortunately was dragged in the stream. Fortunately, he was saved by his companion. Later they discovered that the stream forms a dangerous waterfall down few hundred meters!

After returning from England in 1912, Jawaharlal Nehru got married and started law practice. His heart was in politics. Nehru had been keen observer of political process of his time. He says that 1912 was rather a dull year, in Indian politics. He makes incisive observation of the politicians of the day. Largely, there were moderates and extremists. But there was not much of action. He refers to, one of the leaders, Srinivas Sastry was good at speeches but was lacking on action side. Motilal Nehru was not happy with too much talk and no action.The freedom movement had largely remained as upper middle class's domain. Congress party's meetings were upper middle class's platform to share thoughts. The concept of freedom itself was vague. Only after Mahatma Gandhi's active participation the movement started spreading to the other classes. But   participation of the other classes in the freedom movement can't be entirely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi alone.

Jawaharlal refers to Kissan movement, which he got associated through an extraordinary situation. He was staying in Savoy Hotel with family (ie wife and Baby Indira Gandhi), an Afghan delegation also was staying there. The local officials sensed that Jawaharlal may meet them and asked him to give an assurance that he won't meet them. Jawaharlal Nehru, though  had not intended to meet them, wasn't ready to assure so. He was promptly interned! Thus returned to Allahabad and joined Kissan movement. Kissan movement was to meet the needs of tenants and it was initiated by one Ramamchandra. Jawaharlal's astute observation of Ramachandra is commendable. Though Ramachandra built up the moment for the movement; later Ramachandra shirked further responsibilities.

One of my observations has been Jawaharlal Nehru had innate capability to see through the current happenings around and clearly identify missing pieces to achieve the goals. He clearly identifies alienation of masses, lack of action. Referring to an application written by a team seeking action by the Government, Jawaharlal Nehru says that it was too vague and grandiose. Mahatma Gandhi brought objectivity to the same application but the Government went ahead with the vague draft for discussions. Through this and many other examples, Jawaharlal Nehru alludes to Gandhi's binding influence on the movement.

Commenting on non-cooperation, Jawaharlal Nehru notes that many, including his father, Motilal Nehru, didn't accept the idea readily. Jawaharlal rightly points out to the main concern about the effect of such a move on Motilal Nehru's income. There seem to be many misapprehensions about Motilal Nehru at the time of writing of the autobiography. Jawaharlal addresses those issues squarely and fairly at appropriate instances. (One such misapprehension was about champagne sent to Motilal Nehru in prison.)

Jawaharlal Nehru refers to his eagerness to enter jail as part of non-cooperation movement in 1921. It was a remarkable year in his view. He shares his first experience in the prison vividly. While he was in prison, Gandhi withdrew non-cooperation movement purportedly because of an incidence of burning policemen in an area called Chauri Chaura. Such suspension was not to the liking of many including Jawaharlal Nehru. Many felt that the sustained movement would have yielded better results. Jawaharlal Nehru identifies the wissdom in such a move. In his view, Mahatma Gandhi had not yet observed cohesion and clarity in the people's action. There was no clarity in action and purpose. The movement would have led to further violence and, also in turn, would have been crushed by the Government. Though the movement was suspended after the incidence, there ware more strategic and tactical issues behind the decision.

Jawaharlal also notes that, the originator of non-cooperation movement and practice of non-violence was Mahatma Gandhi. Hence, Mahatma Gandhi was the one who would ensure the effectiveness of these tools. Implicit in this thought, in my view is, mahatma Gandhi's success in South Africa earlier against the same aggressors, ie. the British.

At another instance, Jawaharlal Nehru felt that the Congress General Secretary should be paid some minimum salary. He argues that, a person with spare time and money might not be the right person to carry such an important task. But in view of the prevailing view, he continued to work without salary. From another perspective, paying a salary also avoids casual condescending approach.

Jawaharlal shares his thoughts on public speaking. His first utterance in public was met with an enthusiastic response from one of the senior Congress members, Dr. Tej Sapru. While Jawaharlal Nehru maintains that he had hardly spoken anything significant! Jawaharlal Nehru maintains that he remained shy and diffident. When he spoke to people or in gatherings he spoke as if to address people with true concern. In a way, he suggests that when the speech comes from heart that touches all. It has to be noted in the backdrop of prevailing thoughts on public speaking. many leaders had adopted aggressive stance on public speaking quite literally. Jawaharlal Nehru refers to some speakers seemed to be ludicrous while talking. He felt that, probably he also might look equally or more ludicrous in public speeches!

One of the keen observations by Jawaharlal Nehru is the torpor experienced by British officers in India and also applicable to many intellectuals. His theory was that. British officers get into the grind of bureaucracy and the routine reduces to office, gym, whisky/vodka at clubs,... They did not read challenging books or did not out reach to people outside their office related circles. This led to the torpor. If one looks at present day professionals, the same picture emerges. This was one of the reasons Jawaharlal Nehru was not keen on ICS and also lawyer's profession. He chose more intellectually stimulating, harder life of member of India's freedom struggle. In my view, the same can be applied to a professional's life. The life in more certain corporate job assures the certainty of returns & rewards in cash and kind. Generally, such jobs lead to torpor and it is difficult to get away from such a vicious cycle, due to commitments towards various loans, trappings, etc.

Nehru makes similar incisive observations through 'communalization' of Indian politics, divide & rule policy of the empires. The communalism crept into Indian politics playing into British empire's very fine manipulations. Whereas some of the top cadres from different communities brought issues addressing their communities needs. The rift was widened by insistence on being satisfied at any cost and rigid stances. This ensures that the fundamental need of Independence both political and economical was set aside.Similar tactics were ensured while offering political patronage through municipalities, etc. Thus a few 'opportunists' gained at the cost of the freedom struggle. The depth of understanding and reaching out to solutions has been the hallmark of Nehru's thought process.

If the same is viewed from another perspective the following observations can be made. All of us have varying capabilities and aspirations. In any given movement, we grow to the level of our individual capabilities and drive for the aspirations. The examples are many in the autobiography, be it the rebels Nehru came across in Europe while he was there with his wife in 1926 and 1927. He mentions about many personalities of Indian origin he came across there. There was a Shyam... who had some money and worried too much about it. There was another gentleman from royalty, who was so protective about the papers he possessed, he wore strange attire to carry all those papers. There were many 'revolutionaries', who were effectively used by Nazis.

In a recently read classic article on Nehru in Readers Digest, the author tried to demystify Jawaharlal Nehru's  views. The reading of Nehru's stay gives an idea about the foundation of ideas on Communism, etc. Nehru observed that in England the labors were ill treated and they suffered even though the nation was democratic and ruled other countries. So he felt that the political independence was not enough.  In the International Congress he attended, he listened to Chinese communists' views. He went to Moscow with his father to observe the country. Jawaharlal Nehru says that Motilal Nehru found the ideas to be novel. Nehru developed well considered view of various ways of governing in various countries and based his thinking for India.

Nehru's thoughts give us an idea about the emergence of a leader in an epic struggle. His views and thoughts provide a good idea about evolution of different groups, personalities and the movements themselves. In my view such an understanding will help me personally in an ongoing movement in India, which is not political in nature. As I  write, a breakaway team was formed yesterday (ie. 4th Februay, 2013) from NASSCOM which was largely representing Software Service companies. iSpirt (Indian Software Product Industry Round Table) is formed specifically to cater to the needs of emerging product companies. It will be interesting to track the developments! iSpirt claims to 'Rewrite the Script of a Nation'. I hope we will be one of the main script writers! iSpirt refers to the present endeavors by players like us as 'silent revolution in India in the software products space!

Coming back to the narrative of the autobiography. After his return from Europe Nehru planned to take a break for a while He was busy from day one. His father Motilal Nehru also was busy in Nehru committee to  deliver Nehru Report on communal harmony. Jawaharlal Nehru was keen on pursuing political Independence primarily and tried to form Independence League and lead it but was pulled back into Congress. He was thrusted with General Secretaryship. He observed that Gandhiji was showing detachment from Cogress's goals and objectives. Gandhiji was more keen on 'Dominion Status' than Independence but never opposed the proposals put forward, especially by Nehru. Lala Lajapat Rai's death followed a cane attack in one of the demonstrations against Simon Commission.

Nehru shares his own experience of withstanding the lathi charge in a chapter. He has written chapter on Trade Unions in India. He addressed those unions as part of organizing them. His observation about the speakers including himself is incisive. While he found his own arguments lacking emotional touch with the audience. The others seemed to be putting more stress on emotionalism and nationalism rather than the objectivism associated for the success of the movement.

The links to the other parts of the review:
Part 2 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 3 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography
Part 4 - Close Up with India's Freedom Struggle: A Review of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography