The glow of earthen lamps around a pond, along the roof, across the veranda and Kashmiri food being prepared for the festival: for Sonia Gandhi, Diwali at her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi’s home at 1, Safdarjung Road, remains a collection of vivid memories shared with her family.
In a video posted on X on Sunday (November 8), Sonia sits in the garden of the former prime minister’s residence with daughter Priyanka Gandhi and granddaughter Miraya Vadra. Their conversation turns to the Diwali celebrations of earlier years, when the house would be lit with rows of diyas.
Sonia recalls Diwali traditions at Indira Gandhi’s home
“We would do the first lighting of the diyas by Ganeshji’s murti. In those days we didn’t have those little lights everywhere, but we had diyas everywhere, around the pond, all along the roof, veranda and along the path. It was very pretty,” said Sonia.
Priyanka, too, recalls the festivals she spent with her father, Rajiv Gandhi, at the residence. One Diwali ritual took the family to the crowded lanes of Old Delhi.
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“Papa used to take us to Chandni Chowk to buy firecrackers,” Priyanka said.
The mother and daughter also remember the pleasant weather and clear blue skies of those days. Sonia tells Miraya that people would go “berserk” with firecrackers. Among the fireworks, she had a particular fondness for the ‘phuljhadi’.
Shares festival memories on social media
Sonia shared the video on X and Instagram with a note about the memories behind it. “Revisiting my early memories of celebrating Diwali – the traditions, the festivities and the little moments that made it so special.”
The video comes days before the release of Sonia’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Lovescheduled for Tuesday (November 10). She recently made her social media debut with accounts on X and Instagram.
On Rajiv becoming PM
An excerpt from the book, published by The Guardianrecounts the hours after Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her bodyguards at her Safdarjung Road residence on October 31, 1984. Sonia writes that she pleaded with Rajiv not to accept the post of Prime Minister.
Also Read: ‘His gentleness touched me’: Sonia recalls first meeting with Rajiv
“We held each other, and as he spoke to me, it sunk in that he was saying something I didn’t want to hear. ‘I have been asked; They want me to be sworn in as prime minister,’” she wrote.
“I felt as if a knife had been plunged right into my heart. I felt a pounding in my chest, a rage welling up deep inside me. I was about to explode. I attempted to hold it in,” she recalled.