Works in Progress
BERLIN TO GANDHI
Berlin to Gandhi is an account of my Father Dr Ayi Ganpat Tendulkar who was sent to Germany by leaders of the Indian freedom struggle to pursue education in Europe my Mother Indumati Gunaji, a freedom fighter from Belgaum, Karnataka.
It describes Tendulkar’s life in Berlin under the Third Reich, when he courted and then married Thea von Harbou who was renowned for her work as a script writer for classic German films such as Metropolis, Indisch Grabmahl and Dr Mabuse. These films were directed by Fritz Lang, her half-Jewish ex-husband who later went to Hollywood. Harbou was at least 17 years older than Tendulkar. The two were married in 1935 while he was still a journalist and was working on his PhD thesis. Part one concludes in the year 1939, when Tendulkar is forced to return to India because of the imminent World War II.
He then returns to India to meet Indumati Gunaji a beautiful, young freedom fighter and a member of the Congress Party. Tendulkar has, by now, settled back into his hometown, Belgaum, and has started a local newspaper that is unabashedly patriotic and anti-British in tone.
The book talks about how they meet and how Indumati’s father writes a letter to Mahatma Gandhi requesting him to intervene in the matter. Gandhi decides that Indumati has ‘sinned against society’ by living with a married man. As penance, he prescribes that they live apart for five years, without ever meeting each other. When World War II finally breaks out, Tendulkar is arrested and imprisoned by the British because of his German connection. Five years later, he is released. The two go to meet Gandhi who had promised to personally officiate the wedding if they had agreed to his condition of not meeting each other for five years. However, instead of his blessings, the couple has to enter into a negotiation with Gandhi, who has added another condition—that they remain celibate throughout their married life. They refuse. Gandhi finally agrees to officiate the wedding, as long as they promise not to have children until India gained independence.
The book also describes what happens to Thea von Harbou who lives through World War 2 in Berlin and helps several Indians trapped in Germany. She also assists Subhash Chandra Bose to launch his INA party in Berlin.
