Kasturba, affectionately nicknamed ‘Ba’, married Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1882 and became the backbone of his struggle against the British. She was a source of moral support to him right from the days of Gandhi’s agitation in South Africa. Her participation in political activities there made her one of the first women to be imprisoned by the British in Transvaal. Back in India, she took part in all of Gandhi’s political programmes. For her involvement in the Quit India Movement in 1942, she was arrested and imprisoned. She died in a jail in Poona two years later.