Concealment of flaws will not do. The once great and inspiring Congress party is now sitting in a political pressure cooker. The lid could blow up anytime. Where has creativeness disappeared? Tired clichés proliferate. Newly minted ideas are absent. If some of the Congress luminaries kept silent, it would help the party. It is essential to realise that not only the political weather, the political climate has changed, too. The Congress has to face an entirely new situation.

That the Congress is in rapid decline is a national tragedy. Sonia Gandhi has kept it going for fifteen years with an iron will and dedication. She is not only unwell, she is frequently sick. Without her the Congress would be a house divided. This disintegration will not be in slow motion, it will be rapid. For an old Congress man like me, this is depressing beyond words.

The results of the Assembly elections will be announced in less than a week. Most likely the Congress will take Punjab. Nowhere else. In UP it is a junior partner. When UP sneezes, India gets a cold. At present the Congress has less than thirty seats in a House of four-hundred-plus. Even if the number is doubled, it will make little difference. I am not a betting individual. It is, however, clear that the sattawalahs are having a ball and getting rich by the day. Each day they announce a new winner. The latest prediction is the BJP will win UP. If that happens, India will politically change. I pray as an agnostic that the likes of Sakhsi Maharaj would not continue to muddy the political waters. The other day he pronounced that Muslims should be cremated. Where does he live?

Now, to Nayantara Sahgal. First things first. In her youth she was among the most beautiful women in India. An incarnation of elegance and style. Everyone who saw or met her instantly fell in love with her, including a teenager called Natwar Singh.

Tara’s mother, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, was a magnetic international personality for a decade (1950-1960). A celebrity she was till the end of her long life. Two of her daughters, Rekha and Rita, married IFS officers. I knew Rita Dar very well. She died young. I was deeply distressed. I am an invisible admirer of Tara. I have read most of her non-fiction books, including the latest, Nehru’s India, which she has edited. Her very first book, Prison and Chocolate Cake made her reputation. She was on the way to becoming a creative and reputable author. I read her writings on her cousin, Indira Gandhi. These made me feel uneasy.

For her age she is peripatetic, attending seminars, book festivals, lecturing. She reads and writes. Her first husband was not an agreeable person. Divorce was inevitable.

I first met her in April 1961 at Teen Murti House. I had taken RK Narayan to meet Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Tara and Indira Gandhi were also present. Narayan had come to present the Prime Minister a copy of his latest novel, A Tiger from Malgudi. Nehru asked: “Do you know Delhi well?” “No sir, this is my first visit.” R.K was 55.

What is the stimulus for writing about Tara? Last Sunday she called from Dehradun to gently tell me of a howler in my previous column. I had attributed to John Gunther the authorship of A Week with Gandhi. In fact Louis Fischer wrote it. She is a regular reader of The Tribune and is good enough to read my column. Thank you Tara. I have started writing my next book, Gandhi For Beginners. The unexpected success of my autobiography, One Life is Not Enough made me hesitate to pen another book. Suppose it turned out to be a flop!! I brooded for over two years. Finally, I took the plunge last month.

I have read more than 50 books on the Mahatma, the last being by his grandson Raj Mohan Gandhi, Mohandas. It is a long book, over 700 pages. Apart from Gandhiji’s autobiography, it is the most candid ever written on Gandhi. He leaves nothing unsaid including Gandhiji’s incandescent infatuation for a lady called Sarladevi (actually for a short while he fell in love with her). He thought of a spiritual marriage!! But his son Devadas, Mahadev Desai and C. Rajagopalachari were able to break his special relationship with Sarladevi. Gandhiji was 51. She was three years younger. Einstein’s tribute to Gandhiji sums up his life in twenty-four most memorable words, “Generation to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”

More than a decade ago I was in Cape Town for a meeting of the foreign ministers of South Africa, Brazil and India. Before leaving Cape Town we were received by President Thabo Mbeki. I said to him, ‘Mr. President, Rahul is coming to Cape Town next month”. His response, “I am glad. Rahul Dravid is a very popular cricketer here”.

A dear colleague and friend passed away on 27th February in Hyderabad. P. Shivshankar was 87 years old. He was an eminent lawyer (defending Indira Gandhi when Morarji Desai was after her blood). He held several cabinet posts, including external affairs for a while. He was an accomplished and smart politician. We knew each other well. My condolences to the bereaved family.