Short answers, pulled from the story.
V. A. Sundaram (1896-1967) was an Indian independence activist, associate of Mahatma Gandhi, and secretary to the Benares Hindu University. Born Vellalore Annaswamy Sundaram in Coimbatore, he worked as a regional organizer for Gandhi, a fundraiser for the BHU under Madan Mohan Malaviya, and served as Gandhi's informal ambassador to Europe in 1931.
Sundaram met Albert Einstein in Caputh, Germany, during his seven-month European tour in 1931. The introduction was made by Wilfrid Israel. Following that meeting, Einstein wrote a letter to Gandhi, which Sundaram was asked to deliver.
Sundaram served as personal secretary to BHU founder Madan Mohan Malaviya from January 1926 and spent 30 years at the university. As Secretary of the BHU Collection Committee, he raised funds in the range of lakhs from maharajas and ruling princes across India.
Sabarmati Ashram was Gandhi's newly founded community in Ahmedabad. After hearing Gandhi speak in Madras in April 1915, Sundaram followed him there and became one of the ashram's first inmates. He left after nine months due to malnutrition caused by the strict dietary regime.
During his 1931 European tour, Sundaram met Mussolini and Pope Pius XI in Italy, Albert Einstein in Germany, and President Tomáš Masaryk in Prague. He also met writers and intellectuals including Stephen Spender, Christopher Isherwood, and André Maurois.
Sundaram placed a memorial stone beside his house Krishnakutir on the BHU grounds to mark the spot where Gandhi performed a prayer in 1942. As of 2013, the stone was still visible, and plans were underway to incorporate Krishnakutir into a Heritage Complex on the BHU grounds under the title Gandhi Memorial.