Mani Bhavan - A Day with Gandhi-ji

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Mani Bhavan – A short blog about Gandhi-ji

The monsoon rains forced me to cancel my trip to Pune so I decided to visit Mani Bhavan, the house where Mahatma Gandhi lived for many years. Located in downtown Mumbai, this house served as Gandhi’s base for almost twenty years and was the focal point for all his political activities during this time. A beautiful house on a leafy, tree-lined street, it has now been turned into a museum and archive to celebrate his life and achievements and I felt that a visit was essential. If Barack Obama felt it necessary to visit during his State Visit in 2010, I thought it was only right to follow his lead.

(A short aside: You may be asking why I refer to Gandhi in the title of this blog as Gandhi-ji. The –ji suffix denotes respect of your elders and is added to the names of your elders and others you should look up to and respect. Me, I’m just plain Mr. Tim to most people – I haven’t earned the –ji yet!)

Jumping into a tuk-tuk (which I’ve been misspelling through all my blogs …), the three-wheeled auto- rickshaw mega-prevalent on the streets of Mumbai, I settled in for what I thought would be a forty-minute trip to Gamdevi district … only for the vehicle to stop on the expressway as he wasn’t allowed into the centre of the city. Standing by the side of the highway, I had to flag down a taxi to finish my journey, only to find the one driver who didn’t know where Mani Bhavan was! When we finally arrived, it was strange to experience the calm and tranquillity of Laburnam Street after struggling through the traffic and noise for almost two hours.

(A short aside: Two cows and their handlers walked down the street in front of me as I turned the corner, depositing their little souvenirs as they made their slow way through the traffic. Every day, I get constant reminders like this that I am a long way from home!)

An oval plaque marks the house and I entered the lobby where a bronze bust of Gandhi watches over visitors, still festooned with garlands from his birthday celebrations earlier in the week. Continuing inside, I entered the Gandhi Reference Library, packed floor to ceiling with rare books and pamphlets. The curator was speaking to a small group of tourists and several people were sitting at the tables poring through the reference books and taking notes. That was cool. Then, through a side door, I heard what was definitely the voice of a lecturer speaking to a large crowd of students. I discovered that they were members of the Gandhi Society, a group of locals devoted to keeping alive the ideals of the great man. I would have stayed to listen but the lecture was in Hindi so I went upstairs to see the exhibits. They have preserved his bedroom, authentic to the last time he stayed here in the 1930’s. It was very peaceful, a simple room, but down deep I think Gandhi was a simple man. A firm believer in rights for everyone, and passionate about home rule (and the expulsion of the British Raj), he did most of his work and held many of his meetings with members of Congress in this small room.

Gandhi-ji was a true thorn in the side of the British Raj, encouraging non-violence in all things, and making the Indian public believe that home rule was not only possible, it was their innate right. It took many years, and it wasn’t perfect for everyone, but it eventually came about in 1947. (I don’t want to bore you with the details of Indian Independence, as a quick visit to Google will tell you way more than I ever could.)

No museum is complete without a gift shop but this one was different, with tables of Indian cotton fabric and saris to look through and books and pamphlets available to fill in the story of Gandhi’s life. No tacky plastic statues or wall hangings here, the gift shop maintained the overall ambience of the building, calm and peaceful … and filled with really cool stuff.

I finished my visit and went outside to sit in the shade and just think about what I had just experienced before I would have to be on my way, re-entering the hustle and bustle of Mumbai proper. I felt a weird sense of calm and contentment as I looked up at the house. Almost sixty-five years after Gandhi’s death at the hands of an assassin unhappy with the divided land of India and Pakistan, the man and his works are still inspiring people all around the world … including this farangi from England.

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