Anand T.Hingorani
(18 March 1907 – 10 May 1999)
Anand Hingorani was a law student in Karachi when Mohandas Gandhi visited Sindh in February 1929. He came under his spell, and Gandhi invited him to come and stay at his Sabarmati Ashram.
Anand’s father, Totaram Hingorani, was a civil engineer and had been awarded the title of Rai Bahadur for construction projects he had executed in Baghdad. His income used to be in bag full of Gold Guineas from the British Government. However, Totaram was firm (though possibly quite discreet) in his support of independence for India. Towards the end of the Second World War, his engineering skills were useful to the Indian National Army, and he advised on the construction of bridges and other matters in Burma. It must have been a disappointment to him that his son quit his Law degree, but a pride and joy that he left for Sabarmati in January 1930 and, in time, became a pillar of the freedom movement. Anand first worked as Gandhi’s Secretary during the temporary absence of Mahadev Desai.
Anand also who marched with Gandhi to Dandi (the only Sindhi to do so) in the historic Salt March, a protest against British rule which defied the salt tax by making salt on the beach. A group of men and women set out from Ahmedabad and walked for 24 days until they reached the seashore at Dandi, where they conducted the illegal activity of making salt, in the presence of large crowds of supporters and the international press. They faced police violence and arrest without fighting back, in the spirit of Ahimsa – non-violence – which was the hallmark of the Indian freedom movement.
In Sindh, Anand joined the activists who worked in hiding, printing bulletins that contained inflammatory articles to rouse the passion for freedom in their readers. These were considered treasonous and punishable by law. Every few days, dressed in a suit and felt hat, Anand Hingorani boarded the first-class compartment of a train, a privilege generally restricted to the British and highest Indian elite. He behaved like an English gentleman, so no suspicion fell on him. Travelling from Hyderabad to various towns of Sindh, he returned next day, leaving stacks of the bulletins with trusted members of the movement at each station so that they could be circulated to people all over Sindh. Anyone caught with such a leaflet would be jailed for ‘treason’. Anand served jail sentences too. He was in jail in 1933 when he was informed by telegram that his son had been born! He was named Mahadev, the name suggested by Gandhi
In time, Gandhi made Anand the editor of his weekly newsletter Harijan for a time. Later, it was he who began compiling Gandhi’s scattered writings, with the blessings of Gandhi, in 1941.
Anand was a handsome, richly bred, poetic man, soft-spoken but forthright, and with a clever wit. Sadly, his wife Vidya contracted chronic stomach infection and died in July 1943. This was the most devastating episode in Anand life.
When Anand informed Gandhi – who had just been released from confinement by the British at Aga Khan Palace – of Vidya’s demise and how forlorn it had left him, he received the following reply:
“No forlornness permissible. God our eternal companion. You can come after ear-treatment.”
After Vidya’s death, Gandhi on request of Anand, sent a hand-written “Thoughts” on a postcard to Anand every single day for two years, to cheer him, inspire him and give him solace.
These 688 thoughts which Gandhi wrote for a period of nearly 2 years, were later compiled by Anand into a book, A Thought For the Day. It was one of most unique and rare books, unparalleled in the history of Gandhi literature, as it contains sermons from a Mahatma, not just to his most devoted disciple Anand, but also for the world.
Anand had become hearing-impaired due to his imprisonments, and while Gandhi encouraged him to attempt various naturopathy cures to heal his ailment, he would also joke that to be deaf was not a bad thing since it helped to avoid listening to so much that was not worth hearing.
In 1947, when the new Government of India was formed, Gandhi instructed Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, to appoint Anand as a cabinet minister. Anand declined.
Anand continued to spread the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi by publishing more than 52 books on Gandhi which were widely appreciated by various dignitaries, world leaders and common public.