Amina and Yusuf Cachalia spent many years in India, where he headed the desk of the African National Congress(ANC) in exile.
In her book, Cachalia gives vivid descriptions of private visits to her apartment by Mandela and her visits to his office and residence.
"On one of these visits I must have been looking rather flustered as I bustled about doing my chores," Amina wrote.
"(Mandela) sat me down on the two-seater couch in the living room and kissed me passionately. Running his fingers through my hair he said: "Do you know that you are an exceptionally beautiful, vivacious and enticing young lady?" I hollered at him. He looked very worried and wanted to know what was so wrong with what he had said. I replied gently: I'm not a young lady; I am a middle-aged woman."
"He looked relieved and said: "Okay let's begin again." Then he repeated the string of adjectives, substituting 'old' for 'young' lady. I screamed again and said that I was not an old lady either," she revealed.
Amina recalled one evening when Mandela visited her apartment in Johannesburg. She prepared crayfish for him, which he did not eat, as he was upset on being rebuffed.
"That night Nelson declared his love for me in no uncertain terms. I resisted, reminding him of his marriage (to former Mozambican First Lady Graca Machel), and the fact that while I may have been moved to consider his overtures positively, his marriage to Graca prevented me from doing so," Amina wrote.
