Sonia Gandhi went to Cambridge, but not the university. The story you may not know

Sonia Gandhi's journey to India began much before she became part of one of the country's most prominent political family. At 19, she left her home in northern Italy and arrived in England to study English. She was unfamiliar with the language, the people and even the food. Cambridge, as she would later recall, was a completely different world.In her memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love, Sonia Gandhi looks back at those early years, offering a glimpse into her education, her interest in foreign languages and the struggles of learning to communicate in a new country.But what exactly did her educational journey look like?THREE YEARS OF LEARNING LANGUAGES IN ITALYAccording to the Indian National Congress website, Gandhi attended a foreign language school after her early education, where she studied English, French and Russian. Her memoir provides more details. She writes that she enrolled at the Istituto Santa Teresa di Lingue in Torino, travelling by bus every morning for her classes. The institute followed an immersive teaching approach, with lessons conducted in the language being taught.Russian, in particular, fascinated her. Recalling one of the courses she had taken in Torino, she writes: "One of the foreign language courses I had taken earlier in Torino, along with French and English, was Russian." She adds that the language interested her partly because of the stories her father told about his experiences during the Second World War.Gandhi completed a three-year course in English and French at the institute in 1964, according to her official educational records.WHEN SHE MOVED TO ENGLAND AT 19After completing her studies in Italy, Gandhi travelled to England to improve her English. She had just turned 19 when she arrived and initially enrolled at the Jarrett School of English.The transition was far from easy. In her memoir, she describes missing her family, struggling with British food and finding the people and climate unfamiliar.She writes: "Everything was alien to me: the language, the people, and most of all the food."Although she had studied English for years, speaking it confidently was another challenge. She writes that she could not yet speak the language fluently or understand the accents of Indian English.Her first months also brought some awkward encounters. Recalling an incident when three Indian friends arrived at a gathering, she writes: "They began asking me questions in English but I was too scared and tongue-tied to reply."THE CAMBRIDGE CERTIFICATE AND A SECOND CHANCEHer first experience at the Jarrett School did not go as planned. Gandhi recalls that her father received a letter from the school's principal expressing concern that she was not taking her studies seriously enough.She eventually returned to Cambridge and enrolled at another institution, the Lennox Cooke School on Barton Road, after friends recommended it.This time, things improved. She writes that her new teacher, Mr Turnbull, made the lessons interesting and helped her regain confidence. Her report described her written work as "idiomatic, fluent, and full of humour" and noted that she was also good orally.Gandhi completed her English course in June. Her official educational records list a Certificate in English from the Lennox Cook School, Cambridge, completed in 1965.It was also during her Cambridge years that she met her late husband Rajiv Gandhi, who was studying engineering at Trinity College.FROM LANGUAGE LESSONS TO ART CONSERVATIONHer education did not end with her language courses. Gandhi also developed an interest in art and restoration.According to INC's website, she holds a diploma in the conservation of oil paintings from the National Museum in New Delhi.In Belonging: A Journey of Love, she recalls joining a training course at the National Museum on the restoration of oil paintings. She later returned to restoration work under the guidance of teacher Sukanta Basu.The memoir also mentions her Spanish lessons in the 1970s, which she attended with her friend Rupika Chawla.Together, these qualifications and courses offer a bigger picture of Sonia Gandhi's educational journey: from studying foreign languages in Italy and earning an English certificate in Cambridge to pursuing specialised training in art conservation in India.- Ends