I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t know more about Gandhi before going to India. For being one of the most influential people to have ever lived in India, I sure didn’t know that much.
Nobody ever quizzed me about him or put me on the spot and made me tell them what I knew about him, but still, it seems like it should be a prerequisite to know about him before you go to India.
Anyway, I learned little bits about him here and their while we were staying in McLeod. I knew he was considered the father of the nation, he’s on just about every piece of money, and he’s always referred to as Gandhi-ji (to add respect). At the hostel they put a picture of him right up there with a picture of a Hindu God, and another of the Dalai Lama. So he is practically considered a God for what he did.
After we got back to Delhi though, and had a few days to kill before flying out, we were looking for things to do and found out about a Gandhi museum in the city. It actually turns out there are two museums, both pretty close to each other, but I’d say we chose the right one because it had air conditioning. We went to the other one too, but just briefly because we were already so overloaded with information from the first.
It was a fairly little museum, but it was packed with information. Lots of photos and lots of written descriptions explaining the pictures or just talking about parts of his life, or his ideas or theories.
Downstairs they had a large room lined with photographs from his life that focused mainly on the Salt Satyagraha, the beginning of India’s nonviolent independence movement in which Gandhi called for Indians to break the British salt law/taxes. This was a very involved movement, with several large marches and many speeches along the way. The speeches were posted in the room, and I read several of them. I was struck by just how powerful they were and how knowledgeable Gandhi was about his subject. He wasn’t just a revolutionary, he really knew how the system worked and how to go about changing it.
Upstairs their were several room full of artifacts, things that belonged to Gandhi or things that were from that time. They had some really great things like his walking stick, his glasses, and his sandals. They also had a recreation of his small simple room, where he slept on one side and studied on the other. Everything he owned, everything he did, was so simple. And it wasn’t because it was all he could afford. There were many pictures of him from his younger days, all dressed up in his fine suits and such. But he chose to live a humble life, and I think that’s largely what made him who he was.
Another room that I enjoyed a lot was a small art exhibit, displaying work by various artists dealing with Gandhi, his life, and family. There was some really nice work, including a few simple, but captivating pencil or charcoal drawings by a certain artist who’s name I’ve forgotten and whose drawings I can’t find anywhere on a google search.
Last of all their was a room dedicated to Gandhi’s martyr. I didn’t really know the story before reading it in this room, and even though I had just really started learning about Gandhi that day, it was an emotional experience to learn about his death and see pictures and artifacts from that day.
After seeing the museums we crossed the street to the Gandhi memorial, a large grassy hill, with the center cut out in a square, and in the middle, a sort of tomb, covered in flowers and surrounded by torches and people; the place where Gandhi was cremated.
We went in through one of the side tunnels, removing our shoes first, and paid our respects.
The whole place was very calm and peaceful and there were a lot of people there just to sit and relax in the grass. We were tired from all our walking, so we laid down out on the hill for a while and rested. India can be a pretty busy place most of the time, but here everything slowed down for a while, and although I didn’t experience India under British rule, I felt like I could really feel the fruits of Gandhi-Ji’s labors.
No comments:
Post a Comment