Momentous moments
Mahatma Gandhi visited Bengaluru for the first time on May 8, 1915, four months after he returned from South Africa.
A photograph of a young Gandhi and his wife Kasturba, taken during this visit is one of the many that are on display at a week-long exhibition that began at the Rangoli Art Center at Metro station on Mahatma Gandhi Road on Sunday.
Vemgal Somashekhara, a former teacher from Kolar who wrote a book on Gandhi’s visits to Bengaluru, ‘Bengalurinalli Mahatma Gandhi’, explained the significance of Gandhi’s first visit.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale had passed away in February that year and Gandhi had come to Bengaluru for a condolence service organised for his mentor, said Somashekhara.
“Gandhi looks very different in the picture compared to his later avatar. He is seen wearing a ‘topi’ and a kurta in the picture. By the time he comes here for the second time in 1920, we see a different Gandhi, clad in only a dhoti.”
The exhibition is based on pictures and texts from Somashekhara’s book.
Between 1915 and 1936, Gandhi would visit the city a total of five times. Pointing at an old picture of the Eidgah Khuddus Saheb on Miller’s Road, Somashekhara said, “In 1920 on his second visit, Gandhi visited the Eidgah Khuddus Saheb and stayed in the city only for half a day. However, this short visit saw a gathering of around 40,000 people in and around the Cantonment. Such a huge gathering was never seen before.”
Then, there is a picture of the Mahatma getting down from a train at Yeshwantpur and offering prayers at the platform. This is from his third and the longest visit to the city in 1927.
Another picture shows Gandhi on a visit to the Imperial Dairy College in Adugodi (now the National Dairy Research Centre) flanked by William Smith, the then director of the college and nationalist leader Madan Mohan Malviya.
“Gandhi stayed in Bengaluru for 87 days during this visit and visited various places. He stayed at the Nandi Hills for 42 days,” said Somashekhara.
It was in 1990 that Somashekhara took interest in chronicling Gandhi’s visit and stay at Nandi Hills. Later, he expanded his project to include Gandhi’s visit to Bengaluru and published his book in 2006.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DHNS – Bengaluru, October 03rd, 2016