Biodata
40
parties in India, arrive at a consensus on the name of Mr.
Morarji Desai
as
the Prime Minister.
Following JP's death, Narayanji moved to Vedchhi and set up the
Institute for Total Revolution. The Institute imparts training in non-violence
and Gandhian way of life. Narayan, as a way of paying tribute to his father,
Mahadev Desai, wrote a four-volume biography of Gandhi in Gujarati, a
dream his father could not fulfil in his lifetime because of his sudden
death in prison on 15th August 1942.
Narayanji was greatly pained by the genocide of Muslims in
Gujarat in 2002 and decided to spread the message of harmony, peace
and non-violence through the folk medium of narrating the story of
Gandhi's life and times. Narayan's Gandhi Katha, delivered over a week,
has been drawing large attendance in all major cities and towns of Gujarat.
Narayanji was accorded the Sahitya Akademi Award for the
biography of his father Mahadev Desai which he wrote as part of the
centenary celebrations of Gandhi's close aide. For his work on his
childhood reminiscences of Gandhi, he has been awarded the Gujarat
Sahitya Akademi Award. In 2007, the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award (Murtidevi)
has been conferred upon Narayanji Desai for human values and
preservation of culture.
Narayanji has been very popular in Thailand for his delightful
writing on Childhood and Mahatma Gandhi which has been translated in
Thai.
Narayan Desai, 83, lives in Vedchhi, a tribal village 60 km from
Surat in Gujarat with his daughter Dr Sanghmitra Ben.