“I know you were surprised when, after the fall of Dacca, Pakistani and Indian officers shook hands. But do you realize that, up until 1965, in our army and the Pakistani one you could come across generals who were brothers? Blood brothers, sons of the same father and the same mother.” KnowsHandsMotherFallFatherRealizingBloodSonBrotherArmyIndianOfficersBlood Brothers Author:Indira Gandhi
“I've always been able to do what I wanted. On the other hand, my mother was. She considered the fact of being a woman a great disadvantage. She had her reasons. In her day women lived in seclusion - in almost all Indian states they couldn't even show themselves on the street.” StatesReasonFactsShowsHandsAbleWantedMotherStreetsIndianDisadvantagesBeing A WomanSeclusion Author:Indira Gandhi
“Muslim women had to go out in purdah, that heavy sheet that covers even the eyes. Hindu women had to go out in the doli, a kind of closed sedan chair like a catafalque. My mother always told me about these things with bitterness and rage.” KindEyeMotherHeavyRageChairsBitternessSheetsMuslim WomenPurdah Author:Indira Gandhi
“[My mother] was the oldest of two sisters and two brothers, and she grew up with her brothers, who were about her age. She grew up, to the age of ten, like a wild colt, and then all of a sudden that was over. They had forced on her her 'woman's destiny' by saying, 'This isn't done, this isn't good, this isn't worthy of a lady.'” TwoDoneAgeMotherDestinyBrotherGrewTenGrew UpWorthyTwo BrothersTwo SistersColts Author:Indira Gandhi
“At a certain point the family moved to Jaipur, where no woman could avoid the doli or purdah. They kept her in the house from morning to night, either cooking or doing nothing. [My mother] hated doing nothing, she hated to cook. So she became pale and ill, and far from being concerned about her health, my grandfather said, 'Who's going to marry her now?' So my grandmother waited for my grandfather to go out, and then she dressed my mother as a man and let her go out riding with her brothers.” MenSaidMotherNightCertainHouseMorningBrotherConcernedCookingMovedIllCooksHatedGrandmotherRidingGrandfatherPaleMy GrandmotherDoing NothingMy GrandfatherLet Her GoPurdah Author:Indira Gandhi
“Until the day she died, my mother continued to fight for the rights of women. She joined all the women's movements of the time; she stirred up a lot of revolts. She was a great woman, a great figure. Women today would like her immensely.” TodayMotherFightingRightsFiguresMovementDiedRevoltLike HerGreat Women Author:Indira Gandhi
“For me it's absolutely the same - I treat one and the other in exactly the same way. As persons, that is, not as men and women. But, even here, you have to consider the fact that I've had a very special education, that I'm the daughter of a man like my father and a woman like my mother.” MenWayPersonsFactsMotherFatherSpecialDaughterMen And WomenTreatsSpecial Education Author:Indira Gandhi
“Not only my parents but the whole family was involved in the resistance - my grandfather and grandmother, my uncles and aunts, my cousings of both sexes. So ever so often the police came and took them away, indiscriminately. Well, the fact that they arrested both my father and mother, both my grandfather and grandmother, both an uncle and an aunt, made me accustomed to looking on men and women with the same eyes, on an absolute plane of equality.” MenWellsMadeWholeFactsEyeMotherFatherSexParentInvolvedMen And WomenAbsolutesPoliceResistancePlanesGrandmotherGrandfatherUnclesAccustomedAuntMy GrandfatherArrestedWhole Family Author:Indira Gandhi
“It's not right to say that my father influenced me more than others, and I wouldn't be able to say whether my personality was formed more by my father or my mother or the Mahatma [Gandhi] or the friends who were with us.” AbleMotherFatherPersonality Author:Indira Gandhi
“I began to associate with Mahatma Gandhi when he came and went in our house - together with my father and mother he was on the executive committee. After independence I worked with him a lot - in the period when there were the troubles between Hindus and Muslims, he assigned me to take care of the Muslims. To protect them.” CareTogetherMotherFatherHouseTroublePeriodsProtectIndependenceTake CareExecutivesCommitteesAssociates Author:Indira Gandhi
“I was a perfect housewife. Being a mother has always been the job I liked best. Absolutely.” JobsMotherPerfectHousewifeBeing A Mother Author:Indira Gandhi
“To be a mother, a housewife, never cost me any sacrifice - I savored every minute of those years.” YearsMotherSacrificeMinutesCostHousewife Author:Indira Gandhi
“I was a welfare worker for the Indian Council for Child Welfare. I'll tell you a story. Rajiv was only four years old at that time, and was going to kindergarten. One day the mother of one of his little friends came to see us and said in a sugary voice, 'Oh, it must be so sad for you to have no time to spend with your little boy!' Rajiv roared like a lion: 'My mother spends more time with me than you spend with your little boy, see! Your little boy says you always leave him alone so you can play bridge!' I detest women who do nothing and they play bridge.” YearsChildrenLittlesSaidPlayStoriesMotherVoiceBoysFourOne DayWorkersIndianBridgesWelfareMore TimeLionsFour YearsCouncilLittle BoysKindergartenDetestSo Sad Author:Indira Gandhi
