A Letter to Children By Jawaharlal Nehru Study Guide
About the Author
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was India’s first Prime Minister. Nehru was a wonderful writer in addition to being a great statesman. Even forty years after his death, his autobiography, Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and Letters from a Father to his Daughter are still widely read. His vision and leadership built modern India. He also had a significant impact on world politics by playing a key part in the formation of the non-aligned movement.
The letter above, dedicated to the children of India, was penned a few years after the country’s independence. He informs them that when he was their age, he disliked being preached to or listening to sermons delivered by elderly people. Now that he is an old man, he avoids doing things that he disliked when he was younger. Rather, he would like to share with youngsters his awe of the world’s beauty, including its flowers, birds, stars, and mountains. Adults erect walls based on religion, caste, colour, political party, nation, language, wealth and poverty. As a result, he is harshly critical of them. He teaches them what a wonderful person Gandhiji was and encourages them to help with the process of nation-building.
Summary of A Letter to Children
In this letter to the children of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, informs them that he enjoys being with them, chatting with them, and, most importantly, playing with them. This temporarily makes him forget that he is no longer young, that he has gotten rather elderly. But, as he settles down to write, he is aware of the age gap that exists between him and them.
He did not like listening to sermons and good counsel from the elderly, who have a propensity of pretending to be very smart at this age. Nehru, on the other hand, believes that few of them are wise. He has not been able to decide if he is intelligent or not, but when he listens to others, he believes he must be wise, brilliant, and important. Then he begins to mistrust his own intelligence. He understands that truly smart individuals do not brag about their knowledge and act arrogantly.
Nehru is at a loss for topics to write about. He would love to talk to the children about this lovely planet, about flowers, trees, birds, animals, stars, mountains, glaciers, and all the other beautiful things in the world if they were actually there. Adults ignore all of this beauty and squander their time in arguments or quarrels. Nehru expects that children would be more sensitive than adults and will be able to absorb the beauty of life through their senses. He encourages kids to make friends with flowers and birds, and with everything in nature since it is not difficult. He claims that the world is more pleasant than any fairy tale the children have read since it is the finest fairy tale and adventure storey ever written. All that is required is to keep one’s senses open.
Nehru bemoans the fact that adults erect boundaries of religion, caste, colour, party, nation, region, language, customs, and rich and poor between themselves and live in prisons of their own design. Fortunately for the rest of the world, youngsters do not perceive these diversions and continue to play and work together. When kids are old enough, their elders inform them about these obstacles. As a result, Nehru hopes that kids do not grow up too quickly.
Nehru informs the youngsters that in answer to their letter, he once gave an elephant to the children of Japan. The elephant became a symbol of friendship between Japanese and Indian children. There are children all around the world who go to school, work, play, argue, and then become friends again. He encourages Indian children to learn about other countries and then visit them as friends when they are older. They will be greeted by their buddies.
The author then informs the children about Mahatama Gandhi, who was a brilliant and smart guy. Bapuji, as he was lovingly known, did not flaunt his intelligence; instead, he was simple as a child and adored youngsters. Nehru concludes his message by urging the children to offer their small contribution to the challenge of developing this vast country. Only when everyone contributes, even if it is a small amount, will it add up and the country will achieve rapid growth.
