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The Scope of Happiness is the autobiography of an outstanding world figure who was the sister, confidante, and lifelong political associate of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and the aunt of Indira Gandhi. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit participated in the Indian national struggle for freedom from its inception and was imprisoned three times. In this very personal view of the struggle for independence, she gives an evocative picture of the cultured and protected world in which she grew up in Anand Bhavan in Allahabad, conveying even the textures, aromas and sounds of her childhood home. She offers an unprecedented picture of life in India under British rule, with its rigorous restrictions and racial bigotry. A compelling strength of this book is the intimate picture the author draws of many great figures: the searching and affectionate view of her brother, the insight into her niece Indira, a personal record of Mahatma Gandhi that no one else could give--and penetrating and entertaining anecdotes of world figures such as Krishna Menon, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Chester Bowles, Dag Hammarskjold, Eleanor Roosevelt, President Tito and Prince Charles. No other living individual could draw the sweeping historical picture that Mrs Pandit has given us in her memoir, making it a book of rare significance that will speak lastingly for generations to come.

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Born at the turn of the twentieth century, in 1900, 'Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit' was the daughter of Motilal Nehru and his second wife, Swaruprani. She played a key role in India's freedom struggle. After Independence, Pandit entered the diplomatic service and served as India's ambassador to the Soviet Union, the United States, Mexico and Ireland. She was also the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. In 1953, she became the first woman President of the United Nations General Assembly. In India, she served as Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964, after which she was elected to the Lok Sabha. Her writings include 'The Evolution of India' (1958) and 'Prison Days'.

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