Post Cards from Gandhi's Rajkot

Thoughts Feb 3, 2020

The first part of our "By the Window in Rajkot" series is a tribute to one of the greatest leaders of the world, Mohandas Gandhi (known as Bapu). Rajkot is fortunate to have been the home of Mahatma Gandhi in his early days. Bapu graduated from Alfred High School of Rajkot in 1887. Alfred High School, which was built to commemorate the visit of Duke of Edinburgh to Bombay, is now converted to Gandhi Museum which is a significant heritage building exhibiting the life and work of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi fought the external colonial powers who brought ruin on India and its people. But while fighting the external he was aware of and worked equally hard to mitigate the internal corruption of our own civilization, in particular the social practice of untouchability. He was not unaware of the darkness that lay within. To draw an analogy, our efforts for physical and psychological well-being should be directed on two fronts. One, the macrocosm of our environment and the external world and second, the microcosm of our bodies and the internal world.  

Raga Svara is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's simplicity, love for all beings, self-belief and attachment for indigenous things. Many of you may not know that the very town that Raga Svara is located in, Kasturbadham, has an even further connection to Bapu's life. Kasturba, a significant contributor to freedom struggle and Bapu's wife was imprisoned in the town called Tramba which has been renamed to Kasturbadham in her honour. We could not have been in a better place than this, so close to the memories of Bapu and Ba.  

Albert Einstein said of Mohandas Gandhi, "Generations to come  will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth". There are many lessons to be learned from Gandhi‘s life and generations to come will continue exploring the lasting legacy of one of the greatest humans of history.

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