The Unseen Indira Gandhi: Through her physician's eyes

The Unseen Indira Gandhi is an intimate look at probably India’s best-loved Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, with the solitary exception of her father and the first person to hold that post,
Jawaharlal Nehru.

While biographers have generally seen Indira only through the lens of politics, Dr Mathur gives us a moving and witty account of the three-term PM as a person. Seen through his eyes, she appears to be as human as the rest of us, despite being the only PM till date who won India a full-fledged war in a decisive manner. We find in her the daughterin-law who continued to maintain relations with her in-laws although her marriage was over, for all intents and purposes. We also get to read about Indira caring for Feroze in his last days. Later on, she displayed the same love for her daughters-in-law and her grandchildren, and continued to involve herself in their lives, despite her onerous duties as PM. Apart from being attentive to her filial duties, Indira, like the rest of us, also had her quirks and fancies. With a subtle touch, the author has brought them to light. Last but not the least, the book provides us with a rare look at the trajectory of her development as a politician as well. Putting to good use his privilege of meeting PM almost every day, Dr Mathur provides us with an excellent vantage point to observe her political journey: from the nervous politician with a frequently upset stomach to the war-winning PM, the distressed but resolute PM during the Emergency to her phoenix-like rise to take charge again for the third and final time in 1980, and the days leading to her gruesome assassination.