NEW DELHI: In 1965, a young Italian woman in Cambridge went looking for food that reminded her of home. At a small Greek restaurant, she met Rajiv Gandhi, little knowing how that encounter would change her life. He was very good-looking, Sonia Gandhi remembers, but his gentleness stayed with her.
Sixty-one years later, she returned to that meeting for her first post on social media platform X.
Announcing her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, on Saturday, the longest-serving former Congress president opened a window into the life they built together.
“In a small Greek restaurant in Cambridge, my journey of love began. Rajiv and I created a world filled with love, laughter and memories. On 10th November, I share that world with you,” she wrote.
The post followed her Instagram debut on Thursday, where she shared videos of herself holding the first copies of the book. Leafing through old photographs of Rajiv and their Cambridge days in the accompanying video, Sonia recalled what had drawn her to the varsity. “Food in England in those days was awful,” she said. The Greek restaurant, popular with European and Indian students, offered food closest to what she knew from Italy. A common friend introduced them there.
“When I first met him, I felt almost immediately that, you know, he was someone I would really love to be with. And, of course, I learned that it was the same for him,” she recalled. “He was a very gentle-looking person. Of course, he was very good-looking, but that gentleness came through,” she said.
Last month, HarperCollins India said it would publish Gandhi’s memoir on November 10, ending uncertainty over the book’s domestic publication after an “impasse” between the author’s representatives and Penguin Random House India.
The announcement followed a row involving Penguin Random House India (PRHI), which was initially keen to publish the memoir but subsequently said it would not be the Indian publisher. “One of the most anticipated political memoirs of our time, Belonging is a dramatic and deeply personal story of love, identity, duty and belonging and offers a rare insider’s view of India’s journey,” it had said in a statement.
Several Congress leaders have raised concerns over government pressure and freedom of expression. Some have alleged that Penguin India, its original publisher, faced pressure to drop passages on PM Narendra Modi, the RSS and China’s occupation of Indian territory during his tenure.