Like always this time too I will commence with my observations about the visitors a museum gets — for what is a public space without the public? Its role and function depends very much on the society it is part of and the dialogue it establishes with it. A day before 15th August when I visited it, I derived much succour at the sight of bus after bus carrying tourists to the National Gandhi Museum (NGM), which documents Mahatma Gandhi’s life through his personal relics, manuscripts, books, journals and documents, besides photographic and audio-visual material.
“Whenever Raj Ghat (Mahatma Gandhi’s resting place) is closed, the tourists come here, otherwise we usually get around 300 visitors every day,” says a staffer as I negotiate my way through the crowd. It was one of those days. So there were visitors, here, there and everywhere but how many of them looked — as opposed to merely seeing — I can’t say. But someone like me — who keeps complaining about the absolute absence of a museum going culture in our country — had to be happy. Even if for most the visit means nothing more than some photos for their profile display on What’sapp, Facebook and whatnot, it is fine.
However, for real seekers, the museum has much to offer. There hasn’t been as much technological intervention as the other Gandhi museum in the city — Gandhi Smriti, younger by approximately 12 years — but A. Annamalai, Director, NGM says they can only subtly make those changes. “Technology can’t get all-powerful when you are dealing with content like this. Simplicity was the hallmark of Gandhiji’s life and you have to keep that in mind. There are AVs, phones on which you hear snatches of Gandhiji’s important speeches. We are also digitising the collection and we are planning to give whatever photograph a visitor asks for. What we actually need to do is to cut down his life into various parts and make it relevant to different sections of the society, and we are on our way to doing it.”
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One such example is the ongoing exhibition focusing on the march led by him in 1913 in South Africa. Black and white photographs precisely encapsulate the struggle he mounted to protest the discriminatory laws against Indians. “How well did he document! Each and every person who participated in the march, he knew it all. He knew that a total number of 2057 people participated in the march and that there were 157 women and 53 kids. We faced great difficulty in putting it together because we had so much information, and exact information at that.”
While Gandhi Smriti mostly has replicas of Gandhiji’s belongings, it is here you will find original objects related to his life. In the Charkha Gallery not only can you see the history and evolution of the charkha, you can also find the hand-spun yarn of Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and others. In the photo gallery are kept some rare images of the icon right from his childhood till his last moments; also his spectacles, pen, watches, sandals, stick used in the Dandi march. Even his teeth are on display, along with his toothpick and the sari (a pristine white sari with a delicate border) hand-spun by the Mahatma and Kasturba and gifted to Indira Gandhi on her wedding. It reminds me to talk about the rich collection of textiles housed at the museum which the NGM plans to preserve with the help of the National Museum. The clothes worn by him at the time of his assassination are also a part of the collection.
The latest additions to the gallery are some priceless objects gifted to the museum by Manuben’s niece Meena Jain on International Museum Day this year. Manuben was Mahatma Gandhi’s grandniece who had joined his struggle for freedom and stayed with him till his last moments. The visitors can see a razor, vermillion, bangles, shawl and jacket, pencils, and comb used by Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi. Among other galleries are the Commemorative Gallery and the Martyrdom Gallery. They all have their highlights but my favourite is the Art and Ashram Gallery with models of the Phoenix, Sabarmati and Sevagram Ashrams and beautiful art works in copper wire, wood, plaster relief, shells of groundnuts, etc. by various Indian and foreign artists influenced by Gandhiji.
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Other features include the huge stone sculpture of the Dandi March commemorating the Salt Satyagraha, a replica of Gandhiji’s residence Hriday Kunj at the Sabarmati Ashram and a 6-metre tall cement statue based on Nandlal Bose’s well-known linocut prepared to commemorate the Salt Satyagraha.
(NGM is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. There is no entry ticket and photography is not allowed.)