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Home , Gowalia Tank, Mani Bhavan

SUNDAY HINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW DELHI 08 hindustantimes SEPTEMBER 22, 2019

YEARS ON Bombay days

1869 - 2019

1891: After returning from London as a trained barrister, MK attended the every day, walking 45 N O T E S FROM THE FIELD minutes to and from his home in MAP NOT TRACES Girgaum. In court, he couldn’t TO SCALE follow the cases and would OF THE doze off, he wrote in his autobiography, ‘The Story of My Gandhi’s Bombay MAHATMA Experiments with Truth’ days in Jan 9, 1915: MK Gandhi and Kasturba reached Mumbai (then Bombay) on S.S. Arabia. He met n Clockwise from Quit India Gopalkrishna Gokhale, his August 8, 1942: above: A mentor. In the days that movement was launched at demonstrator in followed, he attended a party at Gowalia Tank. A day after the All Mumbai stands the Petit family house, as well as India Congress Committee up to the police a meeting organised by the passed the Quit India resolution, during the 1942 Gurjar Sabha where Mohammed Gandhi along with Mahadev Quit India Ali Jinnah made the main speech Desai, Sarojini Naidu and Mira movement; behn were arrested from Jawaharlal GD Birla’s home in , Nehru and where they were staying Gandhi at Gowalia Tank on August 8, 1942; Mani Bhavan, now a museum, April 1930: After Gandhi broke was once the the Salt law, and made salt in Dandi, a delegation led by KF home of Nariman broke the Salt law in Revashankar Haji Ali point. Middle class folk Jhaveri, who boiled salt water from hosted Gandhi Chowpatty beach on their on many terraces, in defiance of the law occasions. ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; ; AALOK SONI/HT

Gandhi collected June 26, 1921: Rs 500,000 at one meeting in n at Beach, Bombay, May 1944 ALAMY STOCK PHOTO central Mumbai for the Tilak After attending a fund (his target was Rs 1 crore), July 31, 1921: Rachel Lopez a letter to his relative, Maganlal. The Bom- intended for the Non meeting of the Congress n [email protected] bay Chronicle published at the time Cooperation movement. Working Committee and Donations were offered by described the scene: “...the press of people opening a Khadi exhibition by o most historians, the Mahatma can was so great that it was with difficulty that individuals, guilds and trade the National Women’s bodies Association, Gandhi and many come across as a man whose heart they reached their motor car and by the time Swadeshi followers inaugurated T lay in rural India and who cared little they did so they were almost hidden by gar- a nationwide campaign lighting for the privileged few in the cities. lands.” Gandhi delivered his first speech the a bonfire of foreign cloth in And yet, MK Gandhi spent several years in very next day at Hira Baug hall in Girgaum. Bombay Mumbai — or Bombay as the city was then Over the following week, receptions were called — first as a potential barrister, then as held for him at JB Petit’s bungalow on Pedder a lawyer with an established practice, and Road (possibly where the Vama store now finally, over three decades, as the man who stands) and at Mangaldas House off Laming- led India to freedom. ton Road (the site of Imperial Cinema). In PERSPECTIVE USHA THAKKAR & SANDHYA MEHTA From Mani Bhavan, the modest two-sto- attendance were Bhalchandra Krishna, BG rey home of his friend, Revashankar Jhaveri, Horniman, Revashanker Jhaveri, Moham- on the leafy Laburnum Road, Gandhi spear- med Ali Jinnah, Pherozeshah Mehta and headed at least six national movements. Dorab Tata. “This is no accident,” says historian, San- Gandhi held many meetings across Bom- dhya Mehta, who co-authored the 2016 book, bay over the years. At what is now the Gandhi in Bombay: Towards with Empire and Excelsior cinemas, he demanded Usha Thakkar. “Bombay was the fund-rais- the abolition of indentured labour. At the A WINNING ing centre. It’s the middle-class cloth mer- Seth Morarji Gokuldas Hall near Gaiwadi, he The association of this extraordinary leader and this chants from Mulji Jetha market, not rich mill stirred up ideas of tyag, seva, prem and extraordinary city presents owners, who contributed to his causes.” bhakti (sacrifice, service, compassion and Bombay was where Gandhi made public devotion) among women of the Bhagini an impressive saga of speeches at mill compounds, where the sup- Samaj. He’d meet “untouchable” castes in and Swadeshi porters included elite families, shopkeepers, Walpakhadi, near Dongri. COMBINATION women and students. Fund-raising speeches When Gandhi started a 24-hour fast to kick often ended with women handing over their off the 1919 satyagraha opposing the Rowlatt jewellery. A third of the Rs 1 crore fund for Act, thousands — women, children, Hindus MAXIMUM CITY An indefatigable Gandhi. A generous Bombay was a witness to Gandhi as, not the Non Cooperation movement in 1921 was and Muslims — joined him in taking a ritual only a matchless leader, but also an excep- raised here. dip in the Chowpatty sea. Bombay. Together, they created a synergy that changed tional fund raiser. An announcement by Gan- However, perhaps no single act binds Gan- dhi to collect Rs 1 crore by the end of June 1921 EARLY DAYS dhi to the city as closely as the events of July the course of history, for it is here that the first nationwide for the Tilak Swaraj Fund stimulated people to In 1891, a 21-year-old Gandhi who had 1921 in the Elphinstone mill compound in contribute for nationalistic activities. Bom- recently studied the law in London, reached Parel. “Swaraj is impossible without Swade- Non Cooperation, and Quit India movements were launched bay was the single largest contributor. Bombay, hoping to set up a practice. The city shi,” declared Gandhi, honouring Lokmanya Overwhelmed by the generosity of the peo- was smaller then, its population just over Tilak as spectacular bonfires of foreign-made ple of Bombay, Gandhi said, “Bombay is beau- 800,000, its edges stretching until Bandra. It saris, shirts and jackets were first lit. History tiful, not for the big buildings, for most of them wasn’t a stellar start. At his début at the records more than 10,000 attendees. This hide the squalid poverty and dirt, not for the Small Causes Court in Marine Lines, he was event sparked bonfires across India as people wealth, for most of it is derived from the blood expected to cross examine a witness. “I stood began to reject foreign goods. of the masses, but for its world renowned gen- up, but my heart sank into my boots,” he Bombay was where religious unity was erosity.” wrote in his autobiography, The Story of My not only a possibility, it was celebrated. Later the city also contributed generously Experiments with Truth. Overcome by stage When Gandhi formally opened Congress lthough Mohandas Karam- ernment institutions and propagated swade- to Gandhi’s call for the Harijan Fund in 1933-34 fright, he fled the courtroom, not fighting a House on in 1925, a maulvi, chand Gandhi never liked big shi. Gandhi had become an undisputed leader and the fund for Kasturba Memorial Trust, 10 case until he moved to South Africa in 1893. a Parsi, a Christian priest, a Sikh and a sana- cities, the city of Bombay (now of the non violent struggle in India. years later. Bombay had taken him as one of But Gandhi attended the Bombay High Court tanist offered prayers. As Gandhi marched to Mumbai) remained important For Gandhi, swadeshi was the way to attain its own. every day, walking 45 minutes to and from Dandi from Ahmedabad in 1930, Bombay A for him throughout his life. It swaraj, or self-rule. Bombay became an Gandhi had immense faith in the abilities of his home in Girgaum. In court, he couldn’t locals joined in and boiled saltwater from was here that Gandhi found firm important site for the propagation of khadi women and this was validated time and again. follow the cases and would doze off, like sev- Chowpatty on their terraces.When he support for his activities with a large number work. The first Khadi Bhandar in the country The women, people from all sections, particu- eral others. Six months in, he joined his launched the from of his associates and followers assembled was opened by Gandhi in January 1920 in Mor- larly merchants and the shopkeepers in Bom- brother in Porbunder to do petty legal work, Gowalia Tank Maidan in 1942, citizens around him. If Gandhi’s leadership was araji Gokuldas Market. bay, supported him in his movements and con- and eventually left to work for a trading firm turned Gandhi’s “Do Or Die” slogan into a appealing, the city’s response was spectacu- To emphasise the boycott of foreign cloth, structive activities. People in Bombay were in South Africa. revolution. lar. Gandhi’s important nationwide move- three bonfires were organised in the city at active in locations stretching from the centre A decade later, when Gandhi returned to ments are intertwined with the life of this city Elphinstone Mills Compound in Parel on July to the suburbs, from residential areas like n Rajasekar India and moved to Bombay after a month in TO THE LAST and its people. Gandhi was full of energy and 31, October 9 and November 17, in 1921. , Girgaum and Vile Parle to busi- Ramamani, a Calcutta, he stayed longer and prospered. By An increasingly frail Gandhi had moved to the city was filled with vibrancy. The blend Gandhi’s Dandi march in 1930 evoked a ness places like Mandvi and Fort. More than Gandhi 1902, employed at the offices of Payne, Gilbert Birla House on Malabar Hill by then. But the resulted in a synergy that made history. spontaneous and enthusiastic response in 500,000 persons formed a procession on Febru- impersonator and Sayani, he rented a damp house in walks never stopped. In 1944, when he had to By the time of Gandhi’s arrival in India Bombay, making places like Wadala and Vile ary 12, 1948, to immerse his ashes in the Ara- PRATIK CHORGE/HT Charni Road. This is where his second son, travel from Birla House to Jinnah House, up from South Africa in 1915, the city was already Parle centres of protest. bian Sea at Chowpatty. Manilal, fell seriously ill with typhoid, the road, to conduct what came to be called a centre of commerce, finance and textile The Quit India movement of 1942 was a The association of this extraordinary prompting the family to move to a better ven- the Gandhi-Jinnah talks (over the two-na- industry as well as a hub of diverse intellec- mass movement with Bombay as the nerve leader and this equally extraordinary city tilated bungalow in Santa Cruz. Gandhi now tion theory and, eventually, Partition), he did tual and social reform activities. In 1919, Gan- centre, drawing people from all strata of soci- presents an impressive saga of satyagraha and took the train to town, alone in his first-class so on foot. July 1946 marked Gandhi’s last dhi chose Bombay to launch his first nation- ety. At the historic session of Congress on Swadeshi, through all its protests and proces- compartment. He’d often walk to Bandra, to visit to Bombay. wide satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act that August 7 and 8 at Gowalia Tank ground (now sions, picketings and meetings. get a faster train to Churchgate. The court Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, curbed the freedom and rights of the people [it called August Kranti Maidan in memory of naps, though, continued. However, by the 1948, shocked the city as much as it did the permitted certain political cases to be tried that historic event), Gandhi gave the slogan Usha Thakkar and Sandhya Mehta are end of 1902, he was recalled to South Africa. nation. Citizens paid homage with a dip in the without juries, and imprisonment of suspects “Do or Die” which had an electrifying effect on authors of the seminal work, Gandhi in On January 9, 1915, a crowd gathered to sea during his cremation in Delhi. Some of without a trial]. On April 6, 1919, a mass meet- the people. Bombay: Towards Swaraj greet Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, as their his ashes were kept at the Town Hall, so that ing was held at Chowpatty sea shore. Satyag- ship, the S.S. Arabia docked in Apollo Bun- supporters could pay their respects. rahi, the unregistered newspaper, was issued der. “I was filled with joy when, nearing Those ashes were eventually scattered in by Gandhi on April 7 from Mani Bhavan in Bombay I sighted the coast,” Gandhi wrote in the Arabian Sea. defiance of the Indian Press Act.  ’  Mani Bhavan was converted into a Soon thereafter, on August 1, 1920, the day memorial in 1955. But most land- Lokmanya Tilak died, Gandhi led a hartal, In September 2006, Rajasekar Ramamani, an decided to dress like him, and this journey marks from Gandhi’s association and made a speech emphasising the need to insurance agent from Dombivli, Mumbai, began.” The 62-year-old has spent 13 years with Bombay have been demolished, renounce posts and titles, non violence in went to watch the new Sanjay Dutt-starrer, doing this. “I wear the dhoti as he did, above sold off or are in a shambles. Tushar word and deed, and a “vigorous prosecution . The story of how a the knee. I take the wooden stick that we Gandhi wished India had something of swadeshi”, in effect, launching the Non gangster pretending to be a Gandhian normally use to dry clothes, and borrow my more tangible, even as small as pla- Cooperation movement. ques at historically significant loca- cannot but be affected by his teachings, son’s round-framed glasses. That’s all it The same day, he also returned the three tions. medals that the king-emperor had awarded struck a chord with him. A month on, when takes.” Today, he’s known as in “I spent my childhood interacting him for his services rendered in the Boer, Zulu his suburban neighbourhood was celebrat- Dombivli. He gets invited, in Bapu avatar, to with people associated with Bapu,” he and World Wars. The city, as well as the ing on October 2, he decided school and college functions. January 26, says. “Once they passed away, we nation, responded enthusiastically to the to impersonate the Mahatma. “I remember August 15 and June 21 are busy days for him. started to look for inanimate markers. Mahatma’s statement that “it is the right rec- looking into the mirror the day after we Children never fail to ask him questions. I live in Santa Cruz and when I ognised from time immemorial of the subject watched the movie and thinking, we must “They’ll ask, why do you fast so much, Bapu? learned, in my teens, that he stayed in to refuse to assist a ruler who misrules”. Peo- never forget the teachings of this man. So I Don’t you feel hungry?” Aishwarya Iyer the neighbourhood briefly, I felt a vac- ple inspired by the spirit of non cooperation n Mahatma Gandhi speaks at a prayer meeting in uum inside me. Not only was the place returned government titles, boycotted gov- Bombay, 1946 NATIONAL GANDHI MUSEUM gone, all signs of it were gone too.”