Short answers, pulled from the story.
Mahadev Haribhai Desai entered the world on the 1st of January 1892 in the village of Saras within the Surat district of Gujarat. He was born into an Anavil Brahmin family and his father worked as a school teacher.
Mahadev Desai served as the personal secretary to Mahatma Gandhi from 1917 until his death in 1942. He managed all arrangements for home and foreign affairs while also acting as a translator and editor for various publications.
A diary began on the 13th of November 1917 and continued until the 14th of August 1942 covering twenty-five years of life alongside Gandhi. This record chronicled events up to the day before his death and spans twenty-two volumes published between 1948 and 1997.
The government sentenced him to one year in prison in 1921 for producing a hand-written cyclostyled version of the newspaper Independent after confiscating its printing press. He faced further arrests in 1932 and again following the Quit India Declaration on the 8th of August 1942.
Mahadev Desai died six days after being arrested on the morning of the 9th of August 1942 at the Aga Khan Palace due to a massive heart attack. His body was washed by Gandhi before cremation on the Palace grounds and a samadhi now marks his resting place there today.