 नुशक्कार, नुश्क्लिक में आपका एक बाई फिर्ट से स्वागत है, आप देक रहे हैं, हमारा बहुत ही कास कारिक्रम, इतियास के पनने मेरी नजर से. तुशार गान्दी पबलिष्ट गान्दी लोस्ट अदी अननों डारी अग्स्टूर्वा गान्दी, अग्स्टूर्वा has been a constant companion of Mahatma Gandhi right from the time that he got involved in public life but very little is known about the kind of influence you know at least in the public domain especially among the people, her real contribution in either assisting Mahatma Gandhi or you know or in any way leading women, inspiring women to participate in the freedom struggle, you know did you look into this or this is also something you know like a lot of us it has not yet been you have not had the opportunity to look at it because of very severe some of it has been some of it has been written about some of it has been discussed but a lot of it remains unknown. Yes, that's right. Now you know when you were studying these lives of these women, their participation in the freedom struggle, did you find them living in two separate worlds you know one as a woman and the other as a freedom fighter? What did they have living in two separate boxes or was it all one mixed up box that they were operating from? Yeah, I think for them their lives, the public life and their private personas, the intermingling that's an interesting question. That is the one thing that intrigued me how much did their private self, you know have an impact on that. Impact and vice versa. Yes, true. I mean among the two women who really fascinated me while doing this book, one was Durga Bhai Deshmukh and the other was Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay. I mean both grew up, you know they had to struggle in their childhood. Durga Bhai's father was a social worker who used to hold funerals for those who were just discarded, they abandoned and they discarded and they neglected. And she grew up seeing that and at the age of 12 she did something very interesting like you know raising funds that Gandhi could raising funds with the help of Dev Dasis and getting Gandhi to speak to them. And I thought that was a very radical step so how, I mean I know what it is to be a 12 year old. So how did the 12 year old at this time think of something so big, so huge. So important, so important such a big canvas. And she was growing up in this small place, Kakinada was quite small then. So what was she thinking about who influenced her. I mean it is something totally unimaginable that a young girl of 12 could actually come up with this idea. I mean I know she used to see her father and he was very encouraging of her. So I mean it still intrigues me and I find it, you know even now I can get the goose flesh that how putting myself in Durga Bhai's shoes. Because it's totally something unimaginable to me. And similarly for Kamala Devi you know her father adored her but she lost him when she was just 7 years old. And she must have seen her mother's struggle. She's her mother's struggle when she was denied a share of the inheritance of her husband's property. But she was still determined to give her daughter an education. And Kamala Devi's grandmother who was steeped in traditional ways who used to go on pilgrimages. You know the typical grandmother that we all know who tells stories from myths and epics. And still encourage Kamala Devi to reach for the stars to think beyond just the limited life of being a housewife and a homemaker. There really are some remarkable lives and remarkable stories. Yeah so I mean I hope readers who see this book get a sense of that you know. Where they came and the influences they had and how they stepped out into public. It must have taken a lot of courage and an indomitable will and they must have been special women. So I'm just especially because women of course had to struggle because of their gender the traditions that they had to face. And I was simply amazed by them. I mean I can just I wish I could go back to doing this book all over again. No that is something which almost every writer can do that do their book once all over again. But do you have any you know favourites among these 35 women that you profile? All of them I think so. But like I said I like Durga Mai because I just can't imagine because I remember what it was to be at 12. I mean took me retiring and withdrawn but here she was and how your teachers and how your parents shape you. Because her father was just a social worker who used to go out at night you know. Sometimes she would accompany him and you know give these poor abandoned people you know. People who were lower caste, marginalized neglected and she would see him give them a decent funeral. I mean that kind of experience and then she could you know magnify into something so much big and she dedicated herself to this kind of life. Similarly for Kamla Devi Chattopad there I mean imagine her mother was widowed quite young and still she could think of her bigger life. Of much wider possibilities than was available. You know one last question the other day when I was you know speaking to you you know while planning this particular program. You said that you were in Boston in the university archives looking at some of the research. So I was quite intrigued that what are your next plans what are you working on? If you can share that if it is not a. So I wrote about this Indian writer Shanta Rama Rao who is also much forgotten. So she was quite a trailblazing writer. She came from the famous Benigal Rao family Chitrapur in Mysore. Her uncle was the one who worked with Siddharth Patel in drafting the constitution. And her father Benigal Rama Rao was one of the longest serving governors of the RBI. So and a diplomat and all that. So Shanta Rama Rao she went to America she studied there. She was a senior of Nantara Seigal and others. So you are looking. At her life she was quite a she wrote travel accounts and her own memoirs and she had a very interesting. You know her own way of expressing herself which is which hasn't which hasn't become unfashionable. Like if you read Mulkraj Anand you know he is distinctly a bit old fashioned but not Shanta Rama Rao. So I'm kind of trying to see her see into her archives and see what can be written and stuff like that. So we'll wish you the best of luck with your next endeavor. And when you write it I definitely would be looking forward to reading it. And thank you very much for having joined us on this program and to speak about your very important book for the young readers to be able to connect with them and tell them that they must know about the women who played a very important role in the freedom struggle and the national role.