Little known vignettes of Sonia Gandhi's life

Sonia, a girl of eighteen then had come from Orbassano, near Turin in Italy to study English at Lennox Cook School of Languages, the most expensive and reputed school in Cambridge that offered proficiency courses to non-English speaking students.

As Sonia walked past, Rajiv was struck by her charm. (Facebook)

It was in the city of Cambridge, 50 miles north of London and located in the south east of England where Rajiv and Sonia met for the first time in 1965. Sonia, a girl of eighteen then had come from Orbassano, near Turin in Italy to study English at Lennox Cook School of Languages, the most expensive and reputed school in Cambridge that offered proficiency courses to non-English speaking students. Homesick and feeling miserable, one Saturday evening, Sonia walked inside a Greek restaurant called Varsity at St. Andrew Road famous for its dish Moussaka with rice. She was greeted by Charles Antoni, the tall, handsome owner of Varsity. Sonia wanted a table by the window, but all the tables by the ground floor window were occupied. So Charles led the young woman through the restaurant, past the round table in front of the cash desk, where a group of Indian and Pakistani students - Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi, Deep Kaul, Mehmood, Tahir Jahangir and Suhail Iftekhar - were animatedly discussing politics. As Sonia walked past, Rajiv was struck by her charm. For Sonia, too, it was love at first sight. Sensing that both were mesmerized, a common friend Christian did the introductions. According to Jahangir when she passed from their table, all conversation halted." Soon the conversation resumed but I noticed that Rajiv was lost in thought, and did not participate. He had a dazed expression on his face. He got hold of a paper napkin and a biro and carefully began to write out a poem on the napkin. He then called Charles over and asked him to get the best bottle of wine the Varsity had. Rajiv then requested Charles to personally go up to the girls, present the bottle of wine, pour it out, and then present the napkin with the poem to the girl who was introduced as Sonia Maino, and to top it all belt out an Aria!" When Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister of India, Charles came to India to spend a weekend. He flew to Delhi at his own expense but when he reached Delhi airport, he was detained. Charles was not carrying a valid Indian visa. When he was asked he said he did know that a friend of Gandhis would require a visa. The airport authorities did not take him seriously but Charlie was allowed to make one telephone call. Within half an hour, half a dozen official ambassador cars arrived and Charles left to airport to Race Course Road sipping Thumps Up at the back seat of the car! Thereafter he was looked after by hosts Gandhis spending a magnificent weekend in Tropical Island in the Indian Ocean Goa and spending rest of the week sightseeing in Delhi and Agra. Charles is now leading retired life at Cyprus. Life in Cambridge was easy and fun-loving. Rajiv shared an apartment at 28, Derwent Close with Arun Singh and Deep Kaul, son of former diplomat T.N. Kaul, Pakistani national Mehmood and Anderson who is running a successful publishing business in Amsterdam and London these days. The roommates contributed money to buy a beat-up Beatles Volkswagen. Robin Sarin who was Rajiv's contemporary in Cambridge recalls many a times the car would break down and Rajiv would fix it. "He loved looking inside the engine and seems to know everything about," Sarin remembers adding that even now it looks just the day when Rajiv was seen in Cambridge happily moving about. Little has changed in Cambridge in last forty years since Rajiv and Sonia studied. The city is so peaceful that over sixty per cent of the crime reportedly in 2005 pertained to petty bicycle thefts! Sonia had a local host, an Italian woman called Patina in Cambridge who was then 50 years old. Patina, who lived with her boyfriend Saleem, owned several bed and breakfast houses for students. Sonia was put up at Patina's property at 59, Tennison Row near the station. Sonia also stayed for a short duration at 65, Lensfield Road next to a pub called Spread Eagle. At Cambridge, Rajiv and Sonia frequently went to movies in the three cinema theatres. The first movie they saw together was Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali". Rajiv often took Sonia out in river Can punting for hours to take her to river side-county famous for its tea. The duo was fond of dancing but shared dislike for alcoholic beverages. Funnily, for quite a while, Sonia had hazy idea of Rajiv's political link the primacy that the Gandhis enjoyed in India. One day when a friend of Sonia displayed the photograph of visiting Indian prime minister that Sonia realized that the Gandhis were the politics of India. Deeply in love, Rajiv promised to take her to Agra Taj Mahal but much to his surprise Sonia knew little about the great onument of love. He narrated the history of Taj explaining how Emperor Shah Jahan built the incomparable monument over grave of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal as a token of their inseparable love. Rajiv, looking directly into her eyes now and she holding his gaze, went on explaining how after Mumtaz's death, Shah Jahan invited designs of the most famous architects in the world, who brought white marble, red stone, precious stones, gold, even silver from the four corners of the globe. It took twenty-two years, and twenty thousand labourers before finally it was completed. The carefree life at Cambridge ended when Rajiv left mechanical engineering and started flying lessons in London and New Delhi. Sonia too finished her course and returned to Orbassano. But before returning, she had an all important meeting with her would-be mother-in-law Indira who happened to be the prime minister of India. Indira was extremely curious of meeting Sonia. She had reasons to be curious. Rajiv, shy-natured, her written to her, "I am quite sure I am in love with her. Everything seems to point at that." On the appointed day, Sonia became so tense on way to London that Rajiv had to return to Cambridge. The woman in Indira fully understood Sonia. The following day, Sonia met Indira at the residence of Indian High commissioner in London. According to Sonia, Indira's opening words in French greatly comforted her when she told her, "Sonia, I am a mother, do not be scared of me. I know what it is to love a man from a different community and religion. So I can understand how you feel. Please do not worry." There was another gesture of Indira had deeply touched Sonia. As she was preparing for the evening party, Sonia discovered that her hem had got caught in heel and had torn open a bit. Indira immediately called for thread and needle and said, "You're very lucky, it's right on the seam" while pulling thread from the spool and threads the needle with a steady hand. Embarrassed and touched, Sonia murmured something to the effect of doing it herself. Indira smiled broadly and cracked a light joke. She asked Sonia the difference between the everyday mother and her. As Sonia paused for a second, Indira replied, "nothing" and added, "We both want the same thing: to see our children happy. Since Feroze's death, I had not seen my son smile the way he does since the day he met you. It makes my heart glad," she said while biting off the thread after stitching it up. In November 1966, Rajiv traveled to Italy to meet Sonia's family. Here he met Sonia's father Stephano who had fought in Russia with the Germans. His life-time hero was Duce – Benito Mussolini as he took pride in claiming that the belonged to the Solo Republic set up by Mussolini. Next year (1967) was the most difficult part for Sonia and Rajiv but cemented love. They communicated through letters and cards. Sonia was unafraid because she had complete faith in her love for Rajiv. As she later wrote, "when you love someone, love gives you tremendous amount of strength. Once you have gained that strength, you are not scared of anything. You just want the person you love…….I just wanted Rajiv. I could have gone to any part of the world for him. He was my biggest security. I would not think of anything or anyone except him." It was her love for Rajiv that brought her to India. It was her love for Rajiv that allowed Rajiv to join politics in 1980-81 realizing that Rajiv had to fulfill duties towards his mother. In 1984, it was her love for Rajiv that she let him become prime minister much against her wishes because she felt he had a duty to perform. Years later in 1997-98 she was drawn into politics as she could not see the disintegration of the party Rajiv adored. That marked her own journey in politics. (Rasheed Kidwai is a senior journalist. His Twitter handle is @rasheedkidwai) Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.