Once upon a time, a baby girl was born in the house of a British family. Named Madeleine by her father who was an officer in the Royal Navy, she grew up in her maternal grandfather’s estate. Playing in the laps of nature, she found her solace under the thick canopies and hopping around with white little bunnies. Jumping here and there in the dense forest, she became a part of the wild dwellers.

Obsessed with the tunes of Beethoven, she also hired a German conductor who led the London orchestra that featured Ludwig. This action of hers helped to end the British boycott of German musicians that occurred after the First World War.

Starting her journey to discover more about Beethoven, Mirabehn visited numerous places where he used to live and compose his songs. Reading almost every book about his life, she finally stumbled upon Romain Rolland’s books on Beethoven. Deciding to meet this person, she again set her foot for Villeneuve.

Writing a letter to Gandhi, she asked him as to whether she could join his ashram as his disciple. Though Gandhi replied to her with his permission, he also warned Slade about the rules of the ashram. Elated at his response, Mira trained herself for the ascetic life that she was going to begin. Starting from adopting vegetarianism, spinning, and teetotalism, she also joined Young India and read Bhagavad Gita and other spiritual texts of India.

Thirty-four years in India taught her a lot of things. Madeleine went to attend gurukul to learn Hindi and later on visited Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram to take the blessings of Swami Parmanand Maharaj. Compiling all her experiences in the form of letters, she would send them to Gandhi. It was during this time when Non-Cooperation Movement was at its peak. Participating in it, she soon found herself imprisoned for a year.

Yet again, Mirabehn stepped out of the country with several others to plead India’s case. In this visit, she had the chance of entering the United States where she met Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House. Apart from this, she also took a lot of interest in the establishment of Sevagram Ashram and relentlessly worked with the people of Odisha to help them resist any kind of attack by the Japanese.

All her efforts and struggle went into vain when she was captured by the Britishers and put into prison in the Aga Khan Palace along with Gandhi. But soon, she was released and with Mahatma’s permission, Mira went ahead to establish Kisan Ashram in Mooldaspur village.

Keeping the legacy of her guru alive, she established many such ashrams throughout India. When she visited Kumaon and Garhwal, she was shocked to see the destruction of the forests due to floods. A great nature lover, she could feel the pain of those weeping trees. Even though she tried to warn about the impending time through an essay titled “Something Wrong In The Himalaya”, nobody bothered about it.

But when her warning started taking a horrifying shape, people started the famous Chipko movement to save nature from further destruction.

When they visited Rolland, he gave Mira a book on Beethoven that he had recently finished writing. Upon reading the book, she was yet again drawn towards Beethoven and decided to move to Austria which was known as the land of Beethoven’s music. Returning to England, she spent twenty-two years in Vienna Woods reminiscing those moments of her childhood where nature and Beethoven were her only companions.

Even today, the Himalayas and the dense woods of her grandfather’s estate see a woman in a white cloth roaming around and humming a soft tune of Beethoven.