her away from comfortable rooms of scholars and poets and placed her before a beggar-saint. With time, they went on to share a great camaraderie. In a letter dated Aug 8 1932 to Naidu, he addressed Naidu as Bulbul and signed off as’ Little man’. Somewhere along the line she referred Mahatma as a “Micky Mouse,” a “Little Man” and Gandhiji did not mind it.
According to ‘Man and his message’, a book on Gandhiji’s life by Donn Byrne, this name was affectionately given to him by British media because of the way his ears stuck out like the cartoon character (Mickey Mouse). Despite her admiration for Gandhi, Naidu dreaded Mahatma’s diet. “Good heavens, all that grass and goat milk. Never, never, never!”, quotes the book-Her Way With Words.
After India gained freedom, Sarojini became the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh (then United Provinces of Agra and Oudh). Naidu suffered a heart attack when she was in office and died on March 2, 1949 at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
This is a part of our independence day special series where we remember and salute the women who bravely fought in the Indian freedom struggle.
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