Mrinalini and Vikram Sarabhai
Source: ET

In the story, we get a glimpse of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai's love affair with one of Mrinalini's friends, Kamla Chaudhary, who later went on to become the first faculty member and de-facto Director of IIM Ahmedabad until 1972. Earlier too, there have been stories about his extramarital affair.

Kamla was married to an Indian Civil Service officer Khem Chaudhary. In the 1940s, he was murdered while posted in Lahore. After her husband's death, Kamla moved to the USA to obtain a MA in Social Psychology at Michigan University and also pursued a PhD in Social Psychology.

Kamla Chowdhry
Source: IIMA Archives

She returned to India in 1949, when Mrinalini (Dr. Vikram' wife) forced her to come to Ahmedabad and spend some time with them. At this time, Vikram Sarabhai was struggling to address the problems of textile mill workers that he wanted to upgrade.

Kamla's profile impressed him and he offered her a job with the Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research Association (ATIRA). She headed the Human Relations Division at ATIRA until 1961.

kamla chowdhry and vikram sarabhai

The relationship between Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Dr. Kamla gained intimacy. Mrinalini would often be travelling for her dance shows abroad and this reportedly gave time for the affair between Vikram and Kamla to blossom.

Kamla started feeling uncomfortable around the family and decided to leave the city and move to Delhi. But it is said that Dr. Vikram Sarabhai did everything possible to make her stay in Ahmedabad.

The Sarabhai Family
Source: The Quint

Kamla Chaudhary's nephew and popular psycho-analyst, Sudhir Kakar has talked about their affair in his book 'A Book of Memory: Confessions and Reflections'. According to him, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai went to the extent of convincing then PM Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru to bring the second Indian Institute of Management to Ahmedabad. Dr. Kamla was appointed as the research director of the prestigious institute.

Kamla Chowdhry
Source: IIMA Archives

Following this, she decided to stay in Ahmedabad until the demise of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai in 1972. 


Vikram's daughter, Mallika Sarabhai, who is also an accomplished classical dancer, has spoken about her father's affair multiple times, although she has dismissed the claims that the founding of IIM-A was associated with her dad's love affair with Dr. Kamla. In conversation with The Quint she once said:

"Till I was 13, I hated him for his relationship with Kamla Chowdhry and the pain it caused my mother. 


I didn’t speak to him. I was often rude or curt.


Then I started having conversations with him and our relationship deepened. I realised that he was doing what he thought was right—I still didn’t agree with it.


That he, too, was deeply pained by the pain he was causing. I understood that he did love the two women very deeply. Now I realise that it is possible.


Although, I still think you need to have the gumption and make a choice if either of them is unhappy. You can’t play it both ways."

Mallika Sarabhai
Source: India Blooms

Mrinalini, the late dancer, wanted the world to remember her husband for his immense contributions to the field of science.

For readers,

Kamla Chowdhry was an Indian educator who was the first faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a key member in its founding and functioning in its early years.

Kamla Chowdhry, née Kapur, was born on 17 December 1920 in Lahore to a Punjabi Khatri family. Her father, Ganesh Das Kapur, was a leading surgeon in Lahore; her mother, Lilavati Khanna, came from a family of engineers involved in the building of the Sukkur barrage on the Indus river in Sindh. 

She graduated from the University of Michigan, in 1949 with a MA and PhD in social psychology. Her PhD was completed under the supervision of Theodore Newcomb who would come to be recognized as one of the most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century.

ATIRA

Upon completing her Ph.D., Chowdhry returned to India and joined the Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research Association in 1949 as one of its first four recruits.Founded in 1947 by Vikram Sarabhai scion of a family of textile industrialists based in Ahmedabad, ATIRA sought to apply scientific techniques in the research of industrial problems. At ATIRA Chowdhry headed the Psychology division, later known as the Human Relations division, until 1961 and was the Director of the Research Centre for Group Dynamics from 1958 to 1961. Chowdhry studied how socio-economic conditions, food habits, and behavior of workers in the textile mills of Ahmedabad. Her work led to a transformation in the relationship among stakeholders in the mill industry and contributed to improved productivity and shop floor coordination in mills over the next decade. As a result of her findings, workers and employees were able to gain a better understanding of wage and contract negotiations. Her division at ATIRA also collaborated with the United Nations to study tensions among textile industry workers.