NEW DELHI: Veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi, revisited memories of Diwali celebrations with former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.In a conversation shared on social media, Sonia Gandhi recalled her fondness for Diwali, describing the elaborate decorations, traditional rituals and festive gatherings that marked the celebrations.“Oh, Diwali I loved. So, Diwali was always beautiful,” she recalled in a video shared on her Instagram account.Recalling the traditional rituals, Sonia said a Ganesh idol was placed at the entrance of the house, where the first diya of the celebrations was lit. She added that the idol is now kept at her residence.“At the entrance, there used to be a Ganesh Murti, which is now in my house. And so, we would do the first lighting of the diya in front of Ganesh Ji’s Murti. And it was always decorated. 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, wherever there was a path. So, it was very pretty,” she said.Priyanka Gandhi, the MP from Wayanad, also recalled how festivals were celebrated with great enthusiasm, with people from different walks of life gathering in the Gandhi family’s garden.Sonia remembered how the family would sometimes get carried away with firecrackers, while Priyanka recalled how her father, Rajiv Gandhi, would take them to Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi to buy crackers.“Papa used to take us to Chandni Chowk to buy crackers. We used to go to Old Delhi to buy crackers,” Priyanka recalled.Sonia also remembered phuljhadis, or traditional sparklers, saying she enjoyed them, although she was less enthusiastic about some of the noisier fireworks.Beyond the lights and firecrackers, Sonia said the atmosphere during the festive season remained particularly memorable. Recalling the weather during those celebrations, she spoke about the clear blue skies that formed the backdrop to the festivities.“Weather at that time was beautiful. Blue skies and all, which you hardly see now. Yeah, it was lovely,” she said.Sonia also recalled that festivals were marked by Kashmiri cuisine and a traditional sweet rice preparation, a culinary tradition that continues in the family.“And then, on festivals, we always used to have Kashmiri food and that sweet rice, like that, which we still make, by the way,” she said.Sonia Gandhi has also documented several personal experiences and significant moments from her life in her memoir, titled *Belonging: A Journey of Love*. The book is scheduled to be launched on November 10.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
The memoir chronicles Sonia Gandhi’s journey, from her childhood in post-war Italy and her romance that brought her to India to the personal losses that profoundly shaped her life and her relationship with her adopted country.In the book, the 79-year-old Congress veteran, who holds the distinction of being the party’s longest-serving president, revisits her childhood in Italy, her relationship with Rajiv Gandhi during their time at Cambridge, and the assassinations of her mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, and her husband, Rajiv Gandhi.
