The Marigold Story - Indira Gandhi & Others By Kumkum Chadha

 The Marigold Story - Indira Gandhi & Others By Kumkum Chadha. 54 of 2020. A little bit about the writer to know the book better; Kumkum Chadha is a veteran journalist, who can tell us the stories behind the stories, having worked with people political and otherwise for a long time. 

In this book Kumkum Chadha unravels the hitherto unknown aspects of eleven men and women who remain a significant part of India’s history. Embellished with interesting nuggets, this book is a collection of fascinating profiles including, L.K. Advani,  Lalu Prasad Yadav, Smita Patil, Smriti Irani, Ektha Kapoor, Ajay Bijli, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhinav Bindra, Arun Jaitley along with Indra Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. Uncommon access, being privy to confidences and, above all, a willingness to tell the story, bring alive the people behind the headlines. The Marigold Story: Indira Gandhi & Others is not a gushing account of newsmakers; if anything it captures their weaknesses; goes beyond their achievements and examines what makes these individuals distinctive and unforgettable at the same time. The marigold story is just one among many observations Chadha makes about Indira Gandhi. Each chapter in the book is not only about the person in the title, but also the contexts in which these people worked and lived, plus anecdotes about the people close to us.

In parallel, she do write about her family and her story - especially on her parents and how they had to leave things behind in Pakistan. How her mother belonged more to Pakistan than she ever did to India. It was as if she was stuck in time warp, and never understood the concept of 'Indianness' because Pakistan was a definitive and intergral part of her psyche. She would fight for it, she defined geography; while Kumkum justified history and there was, therefore no meeting ground. 

So what’s the marigold story? It’s really just an observation about Indira Gandhi who hated the flower so much that her staff was trained to keep marigold garlands far away. If the flower actually touched her, Indira Gandhi would throw a fit. Unfortunately, no one remembered this when Gandhi was laid out in state after she was assassinated in 1984. Her body was draped with piles of marigolds — exactly the flower she always hated. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi hated the marigold flower, although in death it was strewn all over her body; Mrs. Gandhi was said to be the only man in her cabinet. 

Her son Sanjay Gandhi was dictatorial, but also uncommonly empathetic; The chapters on the Gandhi family are  solid — Indira, Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi come alive in these pages, so do Sonia and Maneka, and  the bureaucrats who surrounded the Gandhis like R.K. Dhawan in particular on his loyalty and how he was the first to go. How Rajiv was unthinkable by excluding senior leaders from Cabinet the problem Muslim Women (Protection of Right on Divorce) Act in 1986 caused issue. What he did say for the the few party politicians then is true for any even today. The system was run by charlatans - those who were not only privileged, but also adept in the art of depriving the weak. (P.S. Charlatan is a person who says that he/she has knowledge or skills that he/she does not really have) How Sunil Dutt walked all the way from Maharashtra to Punjab not a congress party initiative, a spontaneous move in an effort to rebuild a state that had been wounded and alienated as he said. Rajiv alleged indifference broke Sunil Dutts heart. Unfortunately, these use and abandon malaise had become synonymous with the party. Despite a battery of well-wishers, amongst them technocrats, when it came to taking important decisions, Rajiv was easily influenced. Unlike Indiraji who viewed everything and everyone with suspicion, Rajiv began by trusting people. An IT officer turned astrologer, J.C. Mehdiratta, had told he saw nothing in Rajiv's horoscope after few years, it was thought he said about political career, as he never mentioned death. He had also said that Sonia's Jupiter was very strong and nothing would come to him as long as she was on his side. Sonia picked up the gauntlet, and decided to plunge into politics after waiting for some years. The Gandhis ae caught in a vortex of power, now compelled to play the game. 

It is rather unfortunate the way we the Indians deal with corruption charges. There are times when it becomes the most important issue, like during an election, while at most times, it is given short shrift because it is so deeply entrenched in the system. 

Abhinav Bindra’s story,  is just as much about his parents as it is about him. The shooter who presented India with her first individual Olympic gold medal was incredibly lazy as a child, Chadha says based on conversations with his parents, and only took up shooting, because a) it involved no running around and yet took the pressure off him academically, and b) it would likely give him what he wanted: fame without hard work! Abhinav Bindra, who won India the first Olympic gold medal in an individual event confessed how he was a laidback child with no goals in sight.

Advani though he shared similar trajectories like Pranab Mukherjee, unlike Pranabda  Advaniji was not lucky enough to even have a Presidential opportunity.  There was a special bonding with his wife Kamla Jagtiani. Both came from Pakistan. During one of his trips to Pakistan in June 2005; L.K. Advani created a stir on visiting Jinnah's tomb in Karachi and calling him 'secular' and an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity and written in the visitors book " There are many people who leave an inerasable stamp on history. But there are very few who actually create history. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah was one such rare individual'. From the prism of history though it seems justified, it was a gross violation of his party's ideology, and he had to pay heavily for that. 

Ekta Kapoor’s chapter also relies a great deal on her mother for information; the day Chadha went to meet television’s enfant terrible, Ekta was more concerned about the health of her puppy than with telling Chadha things about herself. Ekta Kapoor, the television czarina believes that her unabashed faith in God helped her scale heights and earn her first big bucks; 

The chapter on Smita Patil was touching. Chadha clearly knew Patil as a friend, not a journalist, and the story of the late actress, her deep love for a married man, and her desperation for a child who ironically had to grow up without his mother really hurt. Smita Patil, who was synonymous with strong, women-centric films, was deeply insecure in her personal life. Another star who soon left the Earth with lot of stories woven around.