The Red Sari: A Dramatised Biography of Sonia Gandhi by Javier Moro

Author:Javier Moro [Moro, Javier]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grupo Planeta
Published: 2014-08-25T23:00:00+00:00

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If it had not been interrupted, that would have been a perfect holiday: relaxed, fun and interesting. The children perfected their Italian, Sonia got on with her shopping for European clothes and Rajiv did the same with his photographic material. In the end, they did not even have to hire a car: Sonia’s sister, Anushka, lent them a convertible that was the delight of the children. In it, they toured the north of Italy, in the opposite direction to that of the patriarch, Stefano, when he had left his home town of Lusiana in search of a better future in the industrial belt of Turin. Thirty-five years later, his daughter and grandchildren were returning to the Asiago mountains, like a normal Italian family on holiday. On the way, they stopped at beautiful Lake Garda, surrounded by olive groves, fields of lemon trees and thick cypress woods; they walked around Verona along the wide streets of red marble, were seduced by the charm of Venice and bathed on the beaches of the Adriatic. They went up the Asiago mountains through a countryside that reflected the splendour of spring. Mauve, white and yellow wild flowers grew at the side of the road that wound among beech woods. The fields where the cows grazed were swathed in an intense green colour and in the background the Alps reminded them of the view of the Himalayas from the plains. In Lusiana, the village the family came from, the air was so crystal clear that it made them feel like drinking it in. The temperature was perfect. And to think that now in Delhi, grandma, uncle and aunt and especially little Firoz would be putting up with temperatures of 45º in the shade while they waited for the rains to come! From the car, Priyanka and Rahul laughed when they read the signs over the shops: “Maino Bakery”, “Maino Trattoria”, “Café Maino”, “Maino Bros. Petrol Station”… How the different branches of the family had prospered since the time after the war! thought Sonia. They were welcomed with great affection and curiosity: everyone wanted to meet the prodigal daughter of the town whose extraordinary destiny they followed in the Press. They were all surprised by the same thing: the family’s simplicity. Sonia was dressed with good taste, in tight trousers and sleeveless T-shirts, a luxury that she could not allow herself in India, where a woman could show her belly but it was considered poor taste if she showed her shoulders. They had photos taken outside the stone family home, the last house in Via Maino. It had stood uninhabited for three decades. They were treated like royalty, to such an extent that they had no time to accept all the invitations and all the visits.

They went back to Orbassano, where Stefano and Paola were waiting eagerly for them. They had been so worried when they followed the turn of events in India during recent years that now they felt a pang in their hearts every

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