For the city of Madurai, 251 A West Masi Street is a historic landmark. In the early hours of September 22, 1921, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi walked out of this house to be greeted by visitors and followers, who were puzzled at his appearance. It was on this day that he decided to shed his traditional attire and be one with the poorest man.
What was once a house of his follower is now an old Khadi store. It is tedious to locate and hardly wears the pristine white of a generic Gandhi heritage monument. Most of its shutters are down; the paint has worn off and the dust from several years of ignorance has settled on the pillars and panels of this building.
The Khadi store sells honey, soaps and cloth material but hardly has enough supplies to display on its shelves. The only Gandhi memorabilia in immediate vicinity is a profile photo of ‘Bapu’ specially brought down for the annual cleaning before his birth anniversary on October 2.
The memorial on the first floor, where Gandhi stayed, is permanently under lock and key. A dingy flight of stairs leads to an unclean verandah overlooking a crowded West Masi Street. The constant buzz of traffic contrasts the room where Gandhi’s photographs are hung.
Some iconic pictures retrace the freedom movement all the way from 1915 to 1947. This ghost complex barely receives any visitors.
D. Karthigai, a cobbler who has been mending shoes outside this store for over 45 years, says that the number of visitors has steadily fallen. “Nobody really knows of this place any more. The place has been ignored for decades,” he says.
The staff at the Khadi bhavan are busy sprucing the store up for the Collector’s visit on Gandhi’s 149th birth anniversary. “We clean regularly,” says the manager of the store but the chipped paint on the walls says otherwise.
About one year ago, the curator of the Government Museum visited this place and reported about the upkeep to Chennai. A. Annamalai, Director, National Gandhi Museum, Delhi, too presented a report to the Minister for Tamil Development K. Pandiarajan, stating that the building needed improvement.
“The idea is for this space to be declared a national monument by 2018, Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. The Department of Museums has already completed an inspection. The district administration and the Gandhi Museum, Madurai, can share responsibility of its upkeep. We must also account for the traffic congestion on West Masi Street and make this space more visitor-friendly,” he said.
The Director is awaiting a response from Mr. Pandiarajan. The file is moving, he says. The dust, however, is not.
