Women in Nehru’s Life




Suave. Charismatic. Handsome. Charming. Not only this. Well-educated. Wealthy. High-status. Brilliant writer. Still not over. Had the ability to use humour to good effect. Gandhi’s disciple. And to top it all, Prime Minister. That too for 17 long years. Pandit-ji had everything that any person could ever hope for.



So magnetic his personality was that women were attracted to him like bees to nectar. Nehru was truly a ladies’ man. He overly relished the company of women and was at his best when with them. Throughout his life, he was linked with several women. It is even rumoured that he had many European mistresses who would periodically visit him. There are no books or articles available (that I know of) confirming this though.



His most well-known affairs were with Lady Edwina Mountbatten, Padmaja Naidu and Shraddha Mata. With Lady Edwina – in her own words – it was a treasured bond. They wrote passionate letters to each other, and whenever time permitted, spent time together. Nehru bought gifts for her from wherever he was in the world. From Egypt he sent her cigarettes and from Orissa he bought a book of photographs of erotic sculptures for her. It is said that when she breathed her last, she had a pile of letters next to her – all written by Jawaharlal.



Padmaja Naidu was the daughter of India’s nightingale, Sarojini Naidu. Nehru’s relationship with Padmaja was very much physical as they lived together for many years. Their affair would have culminated in marriage if Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s hot-headed daughter would not have put her foot down. She disliked Padmaja and made every possible effort to dissuade her father from tying the knot with her, in which, she finally succeeded.



The mysterious tantric Shraddha Mata was sexy and alluring. She held sway over several luminaries of that time but with Nehru her relation was very special. They always met in the night, sometimes quite late, and also corresponded with each other. M.O. Mathai in his book Reminiscences of the Nehru Age has lot to say about this love affair. In fact, he has also mentioned that the godwoman delivered a baby boy whom Nehru never accepted and that boy is still living somewhere in South India.                   



Nehru was a lady killer of the highest order.



-          NZ

13.9.2019

BN: 126


















Comments

  1. Deepak Mehra19 September 2019 at 03:46

    The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree - the son has displayed the same traits as his father. Except Jawaher’s adventures pale in front of Motilal’s. Motilal had five wives and it is believed that he sired three sons who divided India into three parts in 1947 - becoming prime minister / president of their own territories.

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