CHANDAN SINGH

Finished reading @SoniaGandhi ji’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, last night. Couldn’t stop once I had started. It is riveting, deeply moving, and quietly shattering. I am overwhelmed not only by her remarkable life, but by her candour, her nerves of steel, her sensitivity, and her ability to hold her head high in the face of cruel adversities. But above all, I am moved by her faith in love - the love that made her cross continents, love that nurtured her, the love she feels for India, the love that makes her belong. The love that was crushed before her eyes, yet the same love that has sustained her, and kept her going - again and again - and is the bedrock of everything she has done and continues to do. What left me truly spellbound, though, is her sense of duty and responsibility. I have admired her my entire life, but reading this book has deepened that respect into something I can’t explain in words. Despite unimaginable violence and irreparable losses, she never allowed herself to become bitter. Her capacity to forgive even those who destroyed her world - left me in awe. She is fully aware of the vicious lies her opponents have spread about her for decades. And she addresses each one with her trademark simplicity and dignity. An intensely private person has finally chosen to tell her story on her own terms. For the first time, she speaks of battling cancer not once but twice. For the first time one gets to know that before her two children, she bore the pain of losing her firstborn. I wept as I read - a lot actually. It is almost unbearable to imagine the pain inflicted upon her, yet not once did she ever play victim. She is deeply admired - for her courage, her grace, and the quiet strength with which she has carried so much. But the book will make many people understand her and love her - even more. ‘Belonging’ is not merely a memoir. It is a testament to a life lived with love as both compass and anchor, and to a woman who refused to let grief harden her heart. Some stories do not just move you, they stay with you, reminding you what true resilience looks like. This is one of them. At its heart, ‘Belonging’ is one of the greatest love stories of our time!