In her foreword to the book Pupul Jayakar writes: "This is not a political biography, but Indira's life was part of the unfolding history of India, intricately woven with India's past and future. It becomes inevitable, therefore, that politics forms a backdrop to her public and often private actions.
The book seeks clues to her life through access to the many personalities that lay hidden within her. And, if possible, to uncover and reveal Indira Gandhi's thoughts and feelings, her hates and prejudices, her insights and her ignorance, and her loves and the emotional entanglements that generated action."
Jayakar is uniquely qualified to do this. To discover what were the private memories, what the complexes that imparted to Indira Gandhi's public life a demonic energy, an impenetrable persona, a sweeping charisma.
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