Biography
Born Krishna Nehru, in Mirganj, Allahabad to Motilal Nehru, an Indian independence activist and leader of the Indian National Congress, and Swarup Rani, she was married to Gunottam (Raja) Hutheesing, who belonged to a prominent Ahmedabad family that built the Hutheesing Jain Temple. Gunottam Hutheesing was well known in India's elite social circles and was a household name in India throughout most of the 20th century. During later 1950s, he became anti-Nehru and in 1959, supported former Governor General C. Rajagopalachari, to form a conservative political party known as the Swatantra Party.
She and her husband fought for India's independence and spent a great deal of time in jail while raising their two young sons, Harsha Hutheesing and Ajit Hutheesing. Ajit, a leading Wall Street venture capitalist, was married to the brilliant American violinist Helen Armstrong from 1996 till her demise in 2006. Indira's older son Rajiv Gandhi was born in Bombay in the household of the Hutheesings which was 20, Carmichael Road. The building, a grand mansion block, through sheer coincidence, was also Anand Bhavan, the namesake of the Nehrus' ancestral mansion in Allahabad. (This Anand Bhavan in Bombay was demolished some years back for a high-rise.)
Mrs. Hutheesing documented her life as well as the lives of her brother Nehru and her niece, Indira Gandhi, in a series of well regarded books that intertwine history with personal anecdotes including We Nehrus, With No Regrets, Nehru's Letters to His Sister and Dear to Behold.
Her husband, Raja Hutheesing, also wrote books, like, The Great Peace: An Asian's Candid Report on Red China (1953), Window on China (1953), and Tibet fights for freedom : the story of the March 1959 uprising (1960).
Read more about this topic: Krishna Hutheesing
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