08 hindustantimes

YEARS ON

1869 - 2019

PERSPECTIVE ABHAY BANG GROWING UP IN MAHATMA ’S ASHRAM

n MK Gandhi in M A P P I N G GANDHI a horse-drawn carriage in Benares, 1916. ALAMY STOCK 1915-16: A tour PHOTO of the homeland

Dhamini Ratnam over, as the community of Indians stood as one

n [email protected] against the imperial powers. In India, how- ever, the differences were wide and various, ohandas Karamchand Gandhi was and Gandhi needed time to understand them. already a well-known political Thus began his tour of the country. He M activist when the ship, the S.S Ara- started his travels from Bombay and jour- bia, docked in Mumbai — then neyed across the length and breadth of the Bombay — on January 9, 1915. Gandhi and his country, from Kolkata to Ahmedabad, Delhi wife Kasturba, had returned to India, after to Chennai, attending meetings, and talking starting two settlements for Indians in South about indentured labour, an issue that he had Africa, and launching a successful fought against in South Africa. When news of against unfair laws and taxes on the Indian his mentor, Gopalkrishna Gokhale’s death in community there. February 1915 reached him, Gandhi took a In India, however, Gandhi was advised by vow to not wear any footwear for a year. At a his mentor Gopalkrishna Gokhale — a free- stop in Haridwar some months later he took dom fighter who belonged to the ilk of Moder- another vow: To eat not more than five things ates within the Congress — to tour India for a in 24 hours, and no meal after sunset. year before embarking upon any political He and Kasturba, who accompanied him on work. Gokhale’s instructions suited Gandhi many of these travels, went by the third class well, as the latter realised that there was much railway compartment. Later, in July 1916, he about the country that he had not seen, or published a pamphlet deploring the manner knew about. In South Africa, differences of in which the Railways forced third class pas- religion, caste and language were often elided sengers to travel.

‘               ’ In July 1916, MK Gandhi wrote a pamphlet in Gujarati on the state of travel in third class compartments. An English translation, ‘Third Class in Indian Railways’ was published the following year. In it, Gandhi begins by describing a train journey that he undertook, and n The school generated humongous economic inequality, expands on the sorry state of passengers. He ends it with a suggestion that likely caused a started by MK RIGHT ENVIRONMENT Gandhi moved to Sevagram in as author Thomas Piketty and Oxfam’s great deal of consternation among the monied classes. An excerpt from the pamphlet: Gandhi and 1936, to pass, as he put it, “three seasons in a village”. What annual reports tell us. The modern mantra operated by is: greed is good. But unlimited greed has On the way, passengers got for tea tannin water with filthy sugar and a whitish looking Anand Niketan emerged was a rural ecosystem of village industry, animal resulted in corruption in the corporate and liquid miscalled milk which gave this water a muddy appearance. I can vouch for the at Sevagram political class. How to contain these ills of appearance, but I cite the testimony of the passengers as to the taste. Not during the Ashram capitalism is the first challenge. Modern care and education that left a lasting impact on generations whole of the journey was the compartment once swept or cleaned. The result was that Pratisthan in industry exists on the belief that more is bet- every time you walked on the floor or rather cut your way through the passengers Wardha, ter. We produce more, buy more, consume seated on the floor, you waded through dirt. The closet was also not cleaned during the Maharashtra. more, but in doing so, we harm the global cli- journey and there was no water in the water tank. Refreshments sold to the passengers SATISH BATE/HT mate more. Global temperature is rising. How are we to contain this? That is the sec- were dirty looking, handed by dirtier hands, coming out of filthy receptacles and ond challenge. Religious and cultural diver- weighed in equally unattractive scales. (…) Is it any wonder that plague has become sity is turning into suspicion, opposition, endemic in India? (…) Surely a third class passenger is entitled at least to the bare hatred and violence against each other. The necessities of life (…) Among the many suggestions that can be made for dealing with “Did you actually see Mahatma together constituted the Sevagram ashram. enemy is the other, who is hated. This is a the evil here described, I would respectfully include this: let the people in high places, Gandhi ?” I asked my mother But this list fails to capture the magic in the political programme today, and the third the Viceroy, the Commander-in-Chief, the Rajas, Maharajas, the Imperial Councillors and once. She is now 94. atmosphere, the ethos. challenge. What solutions does Gandhi others, who generally travel in superior classes, without previous warning, go through “After we got married, your The ashram was the laboratory where offer? the experiences now and then of third class travelling. We would then soon see a father and I used to live in Sev- Gandhi experimented with life. The manner We can turn to three of his works — The remarkable change in the conditions of third class travelling and the uncomplaining D millions will get some return for the fares they pay under the expectation of being agram. Every day I could see in which he and his colleagues lived every Story of My Experiments With Truth, Hind through the window on his evening day was not simply a routine, but a prayer; , and Mangal Prabhat — as well as carried from place to place with ordinary creature comforts. walk.” I had goose pimples. Mahatma Gan- an effort to become purer. Nothing in life the most important book he wrote: his life. dhi walking in front of my house! “You were was insignificant for him. “My life is my message,” he had said. yet to be born,” she added. A scene from Richard Attenborough’s Even a cursory survey will reveal that “The generations to come will scarce 1982 film, Gandhi, captured the ethos of the Gandhi had foreseen these problems of the believe that such a one, in flesh and blood, place well. In the film, the Mahatma modern civilisation nearly hundred years ever walked on this earth,” Albert Einstein abruptly gets up to leave a political meeting. ago. His solutions were both external and BHITIHARWA had said. I was born in one of those future “Where are you going ?” Jawaharlal Nehru internal. He preached , the rise generations, but I faced no such difficulty. I asks him. “To apply hot mud pack to the and liberation of all, and satyagraha, a non- experienced him in Bapu Kuti, in Sevagram sprained ankle of my goat,” Gandhi replies. violent and loving way of conflict resolu- ashram and in Wardha. For him, providing health care to animals tion, for a society based on alternative val- In 1936, Gandhi decided to personally live was indeed as important as national politics. ues. Equally important was changing one’s and work in villages. He wanted to redirect Gandhi was not an armchair intellectual. He inner world and the way one lived. “Be the the educated class in India towards villages. served and searched as he lived.Thus, Seva- change yourself that you wish to see in the turned into social reform He chose a small village Segaon — populated gram became a mirror of his mind. world,” he had famously said. mostly by lower castes, so-called untoucha- Not surprisingly, more than a dozen insti- Gandhi advised us to limit our wants. “The position is so bad that I dare not leave bles. It was later renamed as Sevagram. tutions — each dedicated to a specific cause “There is enough on this Earth for every- here even for a day. I have cancelled all Gandhi’s ashram stands there, eight kilo- — sprung up around his ashram and in body’s need, but not for everybody’s greed”. appointments,” Gandhi wrote in an April 29, metres from Wardha town. Wardha, in Wardha: women’s education, , rural He practised it. His living room in Bapu Kuti 1917 letter posted from Bettiah. those days, had become the emotional capi- health care, leprosy care, village industry, is hardly 10 by 8 feet. His one solution to the Gandhi established an ashram-school on tal of India. A letter once addressed to “The promotion of Hindi, a school for new educa- problem of wealth concentration in the land donated by a local priest, Baba Ram Nar- Emperor of India – Wherever He Is”, was tion he called Nayi Talim. Later on, from hands of a few was that the wealthy should ayan Das, which opened on November 20, delivered by post to Gandhi. How did the 1960-64, I studied in that school, barely a use their wealth as if they were trustees of 1917, a week after establishing a similar foun- n A hand grinder at emperor live in Sevagram? hundred metres from the Bapu Kuti. He was social capital. This solution, which dation school in Barharwa Lakhansen vil- Sevagram “The house you will construct for me no longer around, but his shadow lingered. appeared ridiculous to the radicals, is now lage 135 km away. Although Gandhi stayed in ashram, where should be no different than an His presence was felt everywhere. being practised by the likes of Bill Gates, Bhitiharwa only for a brief period, stayed. average farmer’s house. Don’t Gandhi’s ashram and these diverse insti- Warren Buffet, Ratan Tata and Azim did so for months — working, primarily, SATISH BATE/HT spend more than a tutions together created a world of alterna- Premji. among women of the village. hundred rupees,” tive values, purpose, a way of life and social In 1980, the Croatian Austrian philoso- The ashram, constructed out of materials Gandhi told Mun- relationships. During my childhood, every- pher Ivan Illich visited Sevagram ashram locally available in abundance — bamboo nalal, a disciple, body around me was a freedom fighter or a for a week. Everyday, he sat silently inside and grass — was burnt down, reportedly at who supervised satyagrahi. Everybody spun the spinning Bapu Kuti. On the last day he broke his the behest of indigo planters. Gandhi decided the building of his wheel and wore white, coarse khadi. Every- silence and told me that the hut made him n A view of Neyaz Farooquee to rebuild it this time as a pucca building.

ashram. Bapu’s body cleaned the toilet, everybody helped in wonder how little one needed to live happily Gandhi's n [email protected] Kasturba is said to have carried the bricks to modest hut, cooking, childcare and looked after the sick. and productively. In the West, five-room ashram set up help Gandhi and others construct the build- another for Kas- No class, caste or gender discrimination houses and two cars per family were norm; in 1917 at the hitiharwa ashram lies in Bihar’s West ing. The hut still stands. It displays black- turba, one for guests, existed for us. enormous amounts of energy were con- time of the B Champaran district, around 55 km and-white photographs of indigo factories, a common kitchen and a Reducing your unnecessary consump- sumed to heat or cool buildings; mountains Champaran from Bettiah and a few kilometres from machines and tenants struggling in farms. courtyard for daily tion was one of the goals. The Gandhians of waste were generated. The hut taught movement in the Nepal border. When MK Gandhi first Now a museum, it also displays a bronze bell, prayers — these around me strove to take lesser and lesser him, he said, that such modern affluence Bhitiharwa. came here in 1917, the adjoining Nepal terai used in the school Gandhi started, and a mill- salary so that they should live within mini- was a form of slavery — to wants and greed. SANCHIT and Valmiki forest reserve used to attract the stone, used by Kasturba. A display in the mum resources and thus, leave more for the This need not be so, there is an another way KHANNA/HT British and affluent Indians for hunting. For verandah informs visitors that this was once 400 millions who needed them the most. of life, he said. He had experienced it inside the rest, forced Indigo farming and illegal the prayer meeting hall. In its present form, The Gandhians around me strove to take lesser and What is the relevance of Gandhi and his Bapu Kuti. taxes levied by the British, was the big con- the ashram serves as a reminder of the free- lesser salary so that they should live within minimum ashram, today’s generation may well ask. cern. Gandhi’s visit was intended to hear the dom movement, but it receives no more than resources and thus, leave more for the 400 millions who That is an important question. The 21st cen- Abhay Bang is a doctor by profession and the cultivators’ grievances and negotiate a better a few hundred visitors in a year. needed them the most. tury faces three urgent challenges. director of non governmental organisation SEARCH, deal for them. But other issues such as a lack At present, there are several such Founda- Capitalism has succeeded in fuelling eco- and works among tribal people in Gadchiroli, Maha- of cleanliness, unsatisfactory schooling, and tion schools being run by the state govern- nomic growth and prosperity, but it has also rashtra. He is a Padma Shri awardee. the plight of women troubled Gandhi. ment, along the lines of what Gandhi started.