How Rajiv Gandhi introduced Sonia to Satyajit Ray's films and Mohammed Rafi's ghazals
Rajiv Gandhi introduced Sonia Gandhi to several aspects of Indian culture long before she became part of the Gandhi family. From Mohammed Rafi's ghazals and Ravi Shankar's sitar to Satyajit Ray's celebrated films, their time together in London gave her a window into a country that would eventually become her home.
In her autobiography, Belonging: A Journey of Love, Sonia Gandhi recalls Rajiv's interests beyond academics and his love for photography, music and cinema. Photography, she writes, was a hobby he had picked up from his father. In his free time, the two would visit the Imperial laboratory, where Rajiv developed his own photographs of Sonia, their friends and nature.
Music was another passion. Rajiv would save up to buy records for himself, his mother and friends. The couple occasionally visited the HMV record shop in London, where they would spend hours listening to music before exercising restraint and buying just one record each.
His musical tastes were varied, spanning jazz and pop as well as Western and Indian classical music. He also introduced Sonia to jazz and different genres of Indian music. Among his gifts to her were a record of ghazals by Mohammed Rafi and another featuring sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.
Cinema was another way Rajiv introduced Sonia to Indian culture. He took her to watch the Merchant Ivory Productions’ film Shakespeare Wallah and Satyajit Ray's acclaimed Apu Trilogy.
“He'd taken me to watch the Merchant and Ivory film Shakespeare Wallah and Satyajit Ray's trilogy, Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and Apur Sansar, opening up for me a small window on different shades of Indian life,” she writes.
If anything, Belonging: A Journey of Love offers readers a glimpse into Sonia Gandhi's life beyond politics, revealing the person behind the public persona and offering a more intimate account of her life and experiences.
The book was launched on November 10 and is available to purchase on Blinkit and Amazon.- Ends
