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According to snippets from her memoir, ‘Belonging’, one of the first Indian dishes Congress leader Sonia Gandhi tried with husband Rajiv Gandhi was tandoori chicken
A black and white photograph of the Gandhis sharing a family meal featured in Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s memoir ‘Belonging’. (Image: HarperCollins India/X)
A month after it said it will publish former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love on November 10, HarperCollins India released some snippets of the book on Friday in a social media post.
The snippets show how Sonia Gandhi made India her home when she married former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, stepping into the politically powerful Nehru-Gandhi family.
From describing her favourite dish to her daily meals with the family, the post focuses on how food was one of the first aspects she embraced to make the “unfamiliar” her “everyday life”. The post features a picture of her with husband Rajiv Gandhi, mother-in-law Indira Gandhi (at the head of the dining table), and brother-in-law Sanjay Gandhi sharing a family meal.
“The unfamiliar becomes familiar. The familiar becomes loved. Love grows into responsibility. And that is belonging,” the post by HarperCollins India read. “Moving between love and loss, family and power, private life and public duty, Belonging is @SoniaGandhi’s account of an extraordinary life – and of a changing India. Belonging releases on November 10, 2026.”
The unfamiliar becomes familiar. The familiar becomes loved. Love grows into responsibility. And that is belonging.Moving between love and loss, family and power, private life and public duty, Belonging is @SoniaGandhi’s account of an extraordinary life—and of a changing India.
Belonging releases on 10 November 2026.
— HarperCollins (@HarperCollinsIN) November 6, 2026
According to the snippets, one of the first Indian dishes Sonia Gandhi tried with Rajiv Gandhi was tandoori chicken. In most likelihood, she described it as a “bright red, slightly charred and set her mouth on fire”. Of Italian descent herself, Sonia’s meals with her Indian side of the family included typical north Indian fare: “rice, phulkas, a vegetable dish, and mutton, fish or chicken, served on thalis. And arhar dal, every day”.
“How does a country become a part of you? It happens slowly, as the things that once felt unfamiliar become part of everyday life,” one of the snippets read.
“The food. One of the finest Indian dishes Sonia Gandhi tried with Rajiv was tandoori chicken. It was bright red, slightly charred and set her mouth on fire. In time, she began to enjoy her meals with her family: rice, phulkas, a vegetable dish, and mutton, fish or chicken, served on thalis. And arhar dal, every day,” it stated.
Ending the uncertainty over the book’s domestic publication following an “impasse” between the author’s representatives and Penguin Random House India, HarperCollins India had announced last month that it will be publishing “one of the most anticipated political memoirs of our time, Belonging is a dramatic and deeply personal story of love, identity, duty and belonging, and offers a rare insider’s view of India’s journey.”
The announcement followed a controversy involving Penguin Random House India (PRHI), which was initially keen to publish the memoir but subsequently said it would not be the Indian publisher. The controversy began amid reports of differences between the publisher and the author’s representatives over editorial changes to the manuscript.
Sonia Gandhi had also made her Instagram debut, while sharing the first look of her book last month.
WHAT IS THE BOOK ABOUT?
Belonging begins with Sonia Gandhi’s childhood in post-war Veneto, Italy, and traces her journey to Cambridge, where in 1965 she met Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The memoir recounts her marriage to Rajiv and her introduction to her mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, as well as her efforts to adjust to life in India, including learning Hindi, wearing saris and adapting to Indian food and culture.
It covers the major tragedies that transformed the Gandhi family, including the death of Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash, Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. It also delves into political events surrounding the Congress-led alliance’s victory after the 2004 election, when Sonia Gandhi declined to become prime minister and instead led the party and its alliance, which governed India for a decade.
Quick Answers
Ask News18Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, is scheduled to be released on November 10, 2026, and is published globally by Alfred A. Knopf while HarperCollins India handles its release in India.
Ask News18About the Author
Oindrila Mukherjee is a senior sub-editor who works for the rewrite and breaking news desks. Her nine years of experience in print and digital journalism range from editing and reporting to writing im…Read More
November 06, 2026, 16:56 IST
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