At a homily I had to preach at a wedding Mass on 24 February this year, I asked the couple as well as all those who had come to greet them, “The day before yesterday, 22 February, was a special day. What was special about the day?” None of them knew. The day marked the 75th death anniversary of a remarkable woman, who was a loving, faithful wife and a devoted mother—Kasturba Gandhi.
Even those who know a great deal about Mahatma Gandhi wouldn’t know what he thought of his wife, and what he said about her. “But for her unfailing co-operation I might have been in the abyss,” said Gandhiji.
Ba—that is how all her friends called Kasturba—was born in 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat. Her father, a successful merchant, was once the Mayor of Porbandar. Karamchand, the father of Gandhi, was the Dewan of Porbandar. Both families were close friends and marrying their children was for them cementing their friendship. So for them it did not matter that Ba and Gandhi were just thirteen when they married.
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Fr M A Joe Antony SJ
