Gandhi kin: No special benefits, please

With a silent calm on his face, Kanubhai, grandson of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, speaks like an enthusiastic youth. The 87-year-old returned to India after seven decades. At the age of 17, after Gandhiji’s assassination, he was sent abroad for further education by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

“I have worked with Albert Einstein, Professor Robert Weiner and many more scientists. My memory has become weak now. All of them were full of praise for my grandfather. They used to tell me that Gandhiji’s knowledge, wisdom and willingness to help humanity was unparalleled,” said the octogenarian.

Three years back, while watching television at his house, a news channel was running the story of Guru Vishram Vridh Ashram in Delhi, an old-age home which rehabilitates old helpless people who are abandoned by their family on roads and hospitals. This immediately caught the attention of Kanubhai, who called the founder of the ashram, Dr G.P. Bhagat.

“Kanubhai called me and said that he wanted to stay in my ashram, contribute and help in my mission as I was carrying forward Gandhiji’s work and ideology,” Dr Bhagat said, adding, “He came over to India and started staying in ashrams in Gujarat. He arrived at my ashram on May 8.”

Kanubhai, who studied applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also worked at the Nasa Langley Research Centre, also toured all over the world and lectured on Gandhian philosophy.

His only goal at the ashram is spend the rest of his life there and help the needy old people who live there. Although his wife Shivalaxmi is still a bit inclined to the luxuries of life, she respects Kanubhai’s work: “We are looking forward to staying with interesting people for which we are looking for an NRI old-age home, but my husband’s strong will is holding me back. I am proud of him.”

Speaking about other members of the ashram, he says, “The Central government is working towards rehabilitating me and my wife but equal attention should be given to the 130 others who are staying with us here. Just because I am Gandhiji’s grandson, it does not mean I shall get special privileges.”

He denies he is in any sort of financial or psychological problem and says that he is very happy and peaceful here. “I am so peaceful here and I want to stay here with my wife. I never liked media attention but you are like my son and can visit me anytime,” he told this correspondent.