Sunanda Gandhi

Who was Sunanda Gandhi?

Sunanda Gandhi was an author, researcher, nurse and, along with her husband Arun Gandhi, co-founder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. For over 25 years she engaged in extensive work with Bapnu Ghar, an organization for destitute and abused women. She and Arun, along with friends, organized India's Center for Social Unity which developed self-help, economic models for India's rural poor, assisting in breaking the cycle of poverty and keeping children at home and in school. Between 1985 and 1987, Sunanda helped edit The Suburban Echo, a news weekly from Bombay.

Sunanda met Arun Gandhi while he was in the hospital. She served as his nurse. A relationship blossomed as a result. The couple had much to work through, as Sunanda's family had supported British rule and did not support the work of Mahatma Gandhi. The couple later wrote The Forgotten Woman, the only biography of Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mahatma Gandhi. Sunanda would later serve as senior researcher at the Gandhi Institute.