Freedom was then a far vision, and no one really expected to see a free India in his or her lifetime. The hundreds and thousands of men, women and teenagers, whose stamina and sacrifices led to our independence, were the real heroes of the Non cooperation movement. For people like them, Anand Bhawan was a symbol of the struggle.' Writing about her growing up years, author Chandralekha Mehta, Pandit Nehru's niece, gives us a peek into the momentous years of the freedom struggle. This was the age of Satyagraha, when the country was awakening to new realities, trying to shape her own destiny and inching her way to freedom, all brought about by the vision of one man Mahatma Gandhi. The author and her family, the Nehrus in Allahabad, were prominent participants in the extraordinary and historical events of the time.