Finding Prof Aparna Basu at Judd Books

A visit to a bookstore is always an enriching experience. In a short time one gets exposed to literature on various subjects. During one such visit to Judd Books, London I came across a book titled G L Mehta, A Many Splendoured Man. It was signed by the author Prof Aparna Basu, a remarkable person. It revived memories of my brief interaction with her over email and telephone. 

Few years ago when I was fascinated by the history of Bombay Chronicle I realised how less known was its illustrious editor Syed Abdulla Brelvi. Milton Israel's book 'Communications and Power: Propaganda and the Press in the Indian nationalist struggle, 1920-1947' examines the crucial role played by Bombay Chronicle and Syed Abdulla Brelvi in the freedom struggle.

In my endeavour to find out more about Brelvi, I got in touch with Prof Aparna Basu whose father and uncle were good friends with him. Prof Basu told me it was her uncle Vaikunth Mehta, who was very close to Brelvi. In August 2013, she told me: "Brelvi was a very close friend of my uncle, Vaikunth Mehta. They studied together in Elphinstone College and Brelvi became a part of the family. Every evening he came to Andheri where my grandfather and his family lived and had dinner there, played bridge and then went back to Bombay Chronicle office. Motilal Nehru referred to him as Lallubhai's fourth son. Even after Vaikunthbhai became Finance Minister of Bombay, he and Brelvi met every evening and went for a walk." Khwaja Ahmed Abbas who worked at Bombay Chronicle, too, wrote about this friendship. Brelvi would take a train to Andheri where the Mehtas' lived and return to the Bombay Chronicle office to put the newspaper to bed. Lallubhai Park and Lallubhai Samaldas Road in Andheri (W), Mumbai commemorates the family. 

Brelvi, Vaikunth Mehta, and Mahatma Gandhi's secretary Mahadev Desai studied together at Elphinstone College. The Mehtas occupied a prominent place in the public life of Bombay and the country. G. L. Mehta was India's ambassador to US in the early 1950s. G. L. Mehta was also a member of the Planning Commission, and helmed the National Shipping Board and Hindustan Shipyard. In the 1960s he was chairman of Air India and Indian Airlines. Vaikunth Mehta was an exemplary figure in the cooperative movement. He was the first chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission and the chief executive of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank for over three decades.  

The involvement of the Mehta brothers in trade and industry came about because their father Sir Lallubhai Samaldas played an influential role in the development of indigenous industry in Western India. Sir Lallubhai and his ancestors served the Maharaja of Bhavnagar as Dewans and revenue commissioner. Sir Lallubhai himself is known to have played a pioneering role in shipping, sugar, cement, and life insurance industries. When Brelvi used to get arrested by the British, the Mehtas, including Sir Lallubhai would visit him and provide support to his young family. Prof Basu told me the entire Mehta household would address him as Brelvibhai as did she during her conversation with me.     

Prof Basu studied at Elphinstone College, Mumbai, Newnham College, Cambridge, and at George Washington University. She then worked at Delhi University's History Department and served as President of the All India Women's Conference. She was a prolific scholar and wrote several books on the history of education and women's movement. Prof Basu also penned the biographies of Abbas Tyabji, Mridula Sarabhai, and her grandfather Sir Lallubhai Samaldas.

Going though Prof Basu's book on her father it struck me that apart from a club on Pall Mall she had told me that she would be put up in Colindale with a friend/relative. During that time British Library's Newspaper Collection was housed at their facility in Colindale (it has now moved to the main building in King's Cross). I went there once with the aim of accessing Bombay Chronicle, but to my shock was told that the files were in very bad shape. I thought this was very uncharacteristic of British Library. Prof Basu assured me that copies of the newspapers should be available in India.

Prof Basu passed away in 2018 at the age of 87 and was the chairperson of National Gandhi Museum since 2013.