Doctor speaks to Indian community about memories of mentor Mahatma Gandhi

Indian student Veena Balvantrai Desai was taking notes during a high school lecture when she heard the paralysing news that her life's inspiration, Mahatma Gandhi, had been shot dead.

Like the rest of his devoted followers, she could not understand how the man who peacefully fought for India's independence from British rule could face such a brutal end.

"He was my mentor... The day he was assassinated, on January 30, 1948, was a Friday. I fasted every Friday for the next three years," said Dr Desai who, inspired by Gandhi, moved on to become a doctor and fight for patients' and doctors' rights.

Dr Desai, now 78, shared her experiences and memories of Gandhi's times during an event organised by the Indian community in Malta and the Peace Lab to mark the death and teachings of the Indian spiritual leader.

She and her husband, Vinay Gandevia, travelled to Malta to attend the event held at the Peace Lab, in Ħal Far, led by Fr Dionysius Mintoff.

"The work Fr Mintoff does with the Indian community is priceless. Through him we get to learn more about the roots of our country," said Meena Vaswani from the Indian community.

For many, the name of Gandhi has become synonymous with peaceful protests. The humble barrister was the pioneer of resistance to tyranny and then to the British that colonised India through mass civil disobedience. This led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

Gandhi was shot dead by an activist in New Delhi as he was walking to a prayer meeting.

Dr Desai and her husband may still have been very young when Gandhi's movement was born but their memories are vivid.

"The news of his death spread like wild fire. People went out in the streets and chanted hymns," Mr Gandevia recalled.

Both were born in turbulent times for colonial India. Dr Desai's father died when she was nine. He was a physician and freedom fighter who was injured during Gandhi's non-violent protest against the British salt tax in 1930. Before he died he instructed Dr Desai and her two sisters and brother to "make something of ourselves and keep the Desai name", which is what she did.

She followed her father's passion for India's independence and helped out as she could. "I used to carry a pail of milk to the freedom fighters every day before and after school... I would walk about six miles a day to carry the milk at the age of 11," Dr Desai said.

Meanwhile, her future husband became an active freedom fighter and Gandhi follower. At 17, he was arrested for his involvement in peaceful marches in the streets aimed at raising awareness among the Indian community about the political situation.

After being beaten by Indian police, he refused to disclose any information about his cause and was imprisoned for five months, which dragged on to 15. On returning to his hometown he was held as a freedom fighter. He went back to high school where he eventually studied psychology and met Dr Desai, six years his junior.

During this time he was also involved in a movement to abolish the caste system and fight for equality according to Gandhi's teachings. In 1947, when India became independent, he was chosen to unfurl the Indian tricolour flag and lower the Union Jack during a ceremony at his hometown. That was the first time he formally demonstrated his romantic interest in Dr Desai, who also admired him.

But they would have to wait for another 17 years before the two got married in 1964. Her priority was her career and, when he left for England, she chose to continue her studies in India and fulfil her promise to her father.

After obtaining her medical degree in obstetrics and gynaecology, Dr Desai was determined to pursue her education. She joined Mr Gandevia in England in 1962, where she landed a job in general surgery at the War Memorial Hospital in Sale.

After getting married, two years later, the couple had a son and eventually migrated to the United States.

Throughout her career, Dr Desai moved on to be two-time winner of India's Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom and the winner of the 2004 Congressional Order of Merit as well as the International Peace Prize from the United Cultural Convention.

"I always admired her as a small and simple woman who was so thorough and so kind and lovely. I knew that, if I ever got married, it would be only to her," her husband said fondly.