Galleries will display charkhas as well as works of Bapu’s associates.
Bapu’s abode, the Sabarmati Ashram, is about to get a facelift. The Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) has decided to come up with two new galleries on the ashram premises - the Charkha Gallery and a special gallery which will display, among other things, the works of about 40 of Gandhi’s close associates like Mahadevbhai Desai, Kekasaheb Kalelkar, Kishore Mashru and others.
The Charka gallery will be set up near Magan Kutir in the Ashram. Details of around 34 different models of Charkhas will made available at the gallery. The Associates’ gallery, on the other hand, will be in Nandini, the guest house at the ashram, where those visiting Bapu stayed.
“The new galleries are expected to come up within a year’s time. There are 34 different types of charkhas. We have models of 12 of them. As for the others, we will have to get graphical and textual information and work for this is already in progress,’ said managing trustee of SAPMT Amrut Modi.
Magan Kutir, the hut where Maganlal Gandhi, the ashram manager, used to stay, is on the banks of river Sabarmati and is sometimes given out to locals for public meetings. Magan was Gandhiji’s relative; and the hut where he stayed is not being used regularly.
“One of the most authentic sources of information on Bapu, after his own writings, is the writings of his close associates. We are trying to create a gallery to exhibit how they contributed to Mahatma’s success. Their contribution was of great significance and needs to be documented,” said another trustee, Kartikeya Sarabhai.
Sarabhai further said that work is also underway to translate Mahadevbhai’s diary from Gujarati to English and that the 100 - volume reprint of Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) is completed.
“The Ashram received one of the most prized possessions on Gandhi Jayanti last week - Amar Charkha, which was given the best design award by Bapu in 1924. The Charkha was designed by a young girl from Andhra Pradesh Kamalamma Garu. The original charkha, on which yarn was spun by Kamalamma was preserved in a casket and offered to President Pratibha Patil, during her visit to the ashram by her eldest surviving daughter C Ratnavali,” Sarabhai said.
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