Playfully holding his grandfather’s lathi during the Dandi March in 1930, Kanu Ramdas Gandhi quietly became a part of iconic history. On Monday, he passed away at the age of 87 in Surat in Gujarat.
He was a former NASA scientist and is survived by his 90-year old wife Shivalaxmi. On October 22, he suffered a heart attack and brain haemorrhage which left half his body paralysed and he lapsed into a coma from which he never recovered, said his close friend of decades, Dhimant Badhia.
He lay in a critical state at a private charitable hospital with little monetary resources and virtually nobody to care for him.Dhimant Badhia, Kanu Gandhi’s friend
Handpicked by MIT and a NASA Scientist for Four Decades
Based in Ahmedabad, Badhia, an old friend and grandson of a close associate of Gandhi, arranged for some monetary help for the ailing Kanu, and had recently given Rs 21,000 from personal resources.
The Radhakrishna Temple got Gandhi admitted to the Shiv Jyoti Hospital and also took care of his 90-year-old wife who is practically deaf and suffers from other old-age related ailments
The going was not particularly good for the elderly childless Gandhi couple since their return after a four-decade long stay in the US in 2014, including Kanu's career of over 25 years with NASA.
Decades ago, the bright Kanu was handpicked by the then US Ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith for studies in MIT, US. Later, he worked with NASA and the US defence department on wing structures of fighter aircraft, while Shivalaxmi was a professor and researcher in Boston Biomedical Research Institute.
He Had Little Money in his Last Days
Upon return to India, they kept moving from one place to another as they have no place of their own here. They spent short spells in ashrams or inns, and at one point they were compelled to spend six months in New Delhi’s Guru Vishram Vruddha Ashram.Dhimant Badhia, Kanu Gandhi’s friend
At that time, a Union Minister got in touch with Kanu and made him speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was sympathetic and offered all help to the couple, but Badhia said they never heard from either his office or the Gujarat government.
Soon after reaching Surat, he suffered the heart attack on October 22 accompanied by a severe stroke which left half his body paralysed; he lapsed into a coma and remained on life-support systems.
Kanu's sisters, Usha Gokani from Mumbai and Bengaluru-based sister Sumitra Kulkarni, a former Rajya Sabha member, regularly enquire after his health and another and are said to have visisted him recently.
Twitter Mourns His Passing
As soon as news broke that Gandhi had passed away, Twitter was flooded with condolences for his death.
(With IANS inputs)
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