ABSTRACT
The title of this essay can be read in two ways-as Personal, Political and Philosophical Perspectives on one of India’s most outstanding philosophers, and as the Personal is the Political is the Philosophical, an imbrication that characterised his speech, writing and relationships. I begin with the personal.1 I cannot remember when I first met Ramchandra Gandhi — he was so much a part of the world I grew up in. He was called Ramu at our home and that was also how I addressed him. As a college student I recall being fascinated when he spoke in English, and even more so when he spoke in Hindi. He was particularly close to my mother, Francine. She could, for instance, recognise his quest for solitude in the evenings he spent by himself at the bar of the India International Centre (IIC) followed by dinner at the dining room. She also referred to him as a prima donna, having witnessed his eccentricities on various occasions! But he was the one who refused to enter a temple because Francine (as a foreigner) had been denied entry, as I learnt later from Professor U. R. Ananthamurthy who had organised a seminar group’s visit to a Hindu temple in Kerala.
