" Violent nationalism, otherwise known as imperialism, is the curse. Non-violent nationalism is a necessary condition of corporate or civilized life ." - M.K. Gandhi
Young India, 27-11-1924.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Non-violent nationalism
" Violent nationalism, otherwise known as imperialism, is the curse. Non-violent nationalism is a necessary condition of corporate or civilized life ." - M.K. Gandhi
Young India, 27-11-1924.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Misquotes of Gandhiji
Misquotes that Bapu is forced to wear
Times Of India , Ahmedabad
AHMEDABAD: "Be the change you want to see in the world," "There is enough wealth in the world to satisfy everyone's needs, but there is not enough to satisfy everyone's greed," "Customer is God,"... And, the list of what are said to be some of Mahatma Gandhi's most quotable quotes is much longer.
However, those exchanging greeting cards, key chains and posters with these quotes printed on them would be disappointed to know that Mahatma never uttered these words.
Scholars who have been pouring over more than 50,000 pages of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) have not found any references to these quotes in these voluminous works. And, it is none other than Gandhiji's great grandson Tushar Gandhi, who endorses their stand and calls for a serious need to clear any aberrations in Bapu's work and sayings.
"The 'Be the change...' quote is not Gandhiji's. It can be considered a paraphrase of what he may have said," said Tushar Gandhi. " Customer is an important visitor..." is again not Bapu's quote, but a highly condensed portion of a speech that he made at an inaugural function of a Khadi outlet.
The CWMG is a collection of Bapu's personal correspondences, articles that he wrote for journals and newspapers, speeches, interviews, letters to editors and even telegrams in his lifetime prepared in 98 volumes since from July 4, 1888. The only reference that one finds to the "Be the change..." quote are interviews of Bapu's grandson Arun Gandhi by Carmella B'Hahn and Michel W. Potts in early 2000. Arun Gandhi indirectly quoted Gandhiji.
In an article that appeared in the Harijan in 1940 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, "I own that often my articles suffer from condensation. They are made to yield a meaning I had never intended. . ." Mahatma Gandhi had strong reservations of anyone modifying his language without his prior permission.
The quote, 'There is enough wealth in the world to satisfy everyone's needs, ...' is actually credited to an American pastor of Swiss origin Frank Buckman, founder of the Moral Rearmament movement. The famous quote 'Customer is an important visitor...' which appears on every traders and businessman's desk is a highly condensed paraphrase of one of Bapu's speech. Bapu never said "Western civilization is a good idea....". It is not mentioned in his autobiography or the CWMG.
The only persons authorized to write or modify what Gandhiji wrote when he was alive were his two personal assistants, Mahadev Desai and Pyarelal Nayar. Their memoirs and diaries are considered authentic sources of Bapu's quotes apart from CWMG and the Bapu's autobiography.
However, those exchanging greeting cards, key chains and posters with these quotes printed on them would be disappointed to know that Mahatma never uttered these words.
Scholars who have been pouring over more than 50,000 pages of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) have not found any references to these quotes in these voluminous works. And, it is none other than Gandhiji's great grandson Tushar Gandhi, who endorses their stand and calls for a serious need to clear any aberrations in Bapu's work and sayings.
"The 'Be the change...' quote is not Gandhiji's. It can be considered a paraphrase of what he may have said," said Tushar Gandhi. " Customer is an important visitor..." is again not Bapu's quote, but a highly condensed portion of a speech that he made at an inaugural function of a Khadi outlet.
The CWMG is a collection of Bapu's personal correspondences, articles that he wrote for journals and newspapers, speeches, interviews, letters to editors and even telegrams in his lifetime prepared in 98 volumes since from July 4, 1888. The only reference that one finds to the "Be the change..." quote are interviews of Bapu's grandson Arun Gandhi by Carmella B'Hahn and Michel W. Potts in early 2000. Arun Gandhi indirectly quoted Gandhiji.
In an article that appeared in the Harijan in 1940 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, "I own that often my articles suffer from condensation. They are made to yield a meaning I had never intended. . ." Mahatma Gandhi had strong reservations of anyone modifying his language without his prior permission.
The quote, 'There is enough wealth in the world to satisfy everyone's needs, ...' is actually credited to an American pastor of Swiss origin Frank Buckman, founder of the Moral Rearmament movement. The famous quote 'Customer is an important visitor...' which appears on every traders and businessman's desk is a highly condensed paraphrase of one of Bapu's speech. Bapu never said "Western civilization is a good idea....". It is not mentioned in his autobiography or the CWMG.
The only persons authorized to write or modify what Gandhiji wrote when he was alive were his two personal assistants, Mahadev Desai and Pyarelal Nayar. Their memoirs and diaries are considered authentic sources of Bapu's quotes apart from CWMG and the Bapu's autobiography.
Monday, October 17, 2011
The Significance of Indian Opinion
The Significance of Indian Opinion by Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie
Department of History, University of the Western Cape
Department of History, University of the Western Cape
Address to Conference on the Alternate Media to Commemorate the Centenary of the Founding of Indian Opinion, 4 June 2003, Durban
On 4 June 1903 a very tired but fired up young man worked till 3am in the morning in the central business district of Durban. He then walked to his home in Sydenham as the last tramcar had long departed. On 5 June again he worked till 11pm - there was an urgency with which he worked. His goal was to get a new newspaper before the public. The first issue of Indian Opinion was dated 4 June but it was only on 6 June that it could be released. The young man was relieved but he could not relax. He had the next issue to think about and it was due in five days time. He wrote `I am now anxious about the second number. With a small staff, and lack of materials - types, etc., and facilities, we have to keep the paper up to the mark!'
This man was M.H. Nazar, a secretary of the Natal Indian Congress. His letters for this early period indicate that there were two other key individuals involved in the production of this new journal. Madanjit Viyavaharik, the owner of the International Printing Press and Mohandas Gandhi, the Johannesburg lawyer. Nazar and Madanjit saw to the practicalities of producing the newspaper - this was no mean task for the paper was to be produced in four languages - English, Hindi, Gujerati and Tamil. The translation of the articles was difficult as individuals proficient in two languages were required. Nazar would report `The translators are not particularly clever, and they will not work at day time'. Some translations were simply `shocking'. Then there was a shortage of types. Virji Damodar Mehta (who would one day found his own printing press, Universal Printing Press) asked Nazar not to use too many of the Gujerati letter `a'. The editor himself did not know Tamil and had to explain the spirit of articles to translators whose English was not too good. Madanjit in the meanwhile had been running around getting the licence, advertisers and subscribers. The first issue which was some two months in the planning was finally out.
I start deliberately with Nazar, the first editor, and Madanjit the actual owner, to illustrate the point that there were many dedicated workers who made Indian Opinion a possibility. It was Nazar, in fact, who would set a high standard for those who would succeed him in the editor's chair. There was no question of taking money for his work, it was all for a `cause'. However there is no doubt that the main figure in the production of the paper was the thirty-four year old lawyer whose office was based in Rissik Street in Johannesburg. Nazar would suggest various lead articles but lest Gandhi should not understand he clarified the position. He expected these to be written by Gandhi. Over the years, Gandhi would direct the policy of Indian Opinion from Johannesburg, write articles, give direction and above all divert his earnings from his prospering practice to help sustain the paper. And over the years there were many dedicated workers and editors.
My task this evening is to explain what is the significance of this journal which by its second year had 887 subscribers. Over its entire 58 years existence its subscribers averaged at about 2000. The highest number in any one year was 3500. Compare this with the Guardian which in the 1930s began with a circulation of 1000 but grew rapidly over the years to top 50 000 by the mid-1940s. When Indian Opinion was reaching its dying days in 1961, the Guardian now published as New Age had a circulation of 20 000. The significance of Indian Opinion lies not in its size (which may be explained only partly in terms of the size of the Indian population) but in its content.
Indian Opinion was also not the first Indian newspaper in Natal. It had been preceded by a short-lived Indian World in 1898 and in May 1901 P.S Aiyar a Tamil journalist began a Tamil-English weekly Colonial Indian News. Aiyar's ventures reflected the precariousness of such undertakings as this too lasted for just a few years. Africans in colonial Natal had also been publishing newspapers for some time. There had been Inkanyiso yase Natal, Ipepa lo Hlanga and in April 1903 John Dube began his Ilanga lase Natal. In the eastern Cape where black journalism had an even longer history there was Imvo Zabantsundu run by John Tengo Jabavu and the more radical paper Izwi Labantu published by Walter Rubusana and Alan Soga from East London. Indian Opinion was launched at a time when just after the South African War all blacks felt disappointed with British rule and were concerned about the failure of the new order to bring about improvements in their political, social and economic status. The years after the war were marked by a proliferation of papers. Sol Plaatje . one of our most talented elites of the time began a Tswana-English weekly that served the northern Cape and Free State. Later, in 1909, in Cape Town Dr Abduraham would start the APO. These were just a few of the many papers emerging. The important point I would like to make is that Gandhi belongs to this generation of rising black journalists and editors who were all committed to improving the position of black people especially at a time when whites were moving towards forming a Union of South Africa within which blacks had such limited rights. Indian Opinion marked Gandhi's apprenticeship as a journalist. In India he would go on to publishing many other journals, Young India, Navajivan, Harijan and his experience with Indian Opinion would prove crucial.
Indian Opinion began its life by adopting a very moderate tone. The editor proclaimed `we have unfailing faith in British justice' . It was by `well-sustained continuous and temperate constitutional effort that Indians would seek redress'. That is how the paper began and in colonial Natal there was reason to be cautious. The owners of Ipepa lo Hlanga chose to close down after it offended the Natal government with an article urging people Vukani Bantu! Rise Up you people'. For the time being Gandhi was anxious not to offend white officialdom but to secure their support to improve the position of Indians. The pages of Indian Opinion provide a valuable historical record of the disabilities that Indians suffered under. It also provides an invaluable record of the life of the political life of the Indian community. It represents an alternate voice to that of newspapers such as the Natal Mercury which were often hostile to Indian interests. Soon Gandhi would move from political petitioning to active resistance and his paper changed too.
One significant moment in the paper's history came in 1904 when Gandhi relocated it to a one hundred acre farm named Phoenix just 24 kms from Durban. This reflected the influence of Leo Tolstoy and John Ruskin on Gandhi. Gandhi drew on Tolstoy's distaste for city life, his praise of agricultural labour and his renunciation of wealth. From Ruskin he drew the idea that all labour whether that of the professional or the manual labourer was equal but also that `the life of a tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman, is the life worth living.' At Phoenix the press workers were governed by a new work ethic - they would all have a share in the land, in the profits if there were any, they would grow crops to sustain themselves and they would work jointly to produce Indian Opinion. Thus the history of Indian Opinion becomes intertwined with Phoenix, Gandhi's first communal settlement. While at Phoenix the rhythm of life was dictated by the production of the paper, in India it was the spinning wheel which was the centre of ashram activity.
Indian Opinion played a very significant role in the early years of the twentieth century by fostering the idea of one united Indian community and a national identity. This was no mean task for Indians were divided by religion, caste, class, and even Indian regional affiliations. `we are not, and ought not to be, Tamils or Calcutta men, Mohammedans or Hindus, Brahmins or Banyas, but simply and solely British Indians'. Indian Opinion especially highlighted the poor conditions under which indentured labourers worked. Editorials asked `Is all well on the Estates', cases of harsh treatment by employers were publicised and the astoundingly high rate of suicide was pointed out. A campaign to end the system was launched and editor Henry Polak, a friend of Gandhi's went to India to mobilise support. Indian Opinion was a means of bringing news about Indians in the colonies before the public in India.
Indian Opinion and political activism on the part of its editors became an established tradition. This is what would, throughout the 20th century distinguish Indian Opinion from other newspapers that would arrive on the scene during the 20th century. All but one of its editors spent some time in jail. This tradition began during the satyagraha campaign between 1906 and 1913 which began because of attempts to impose passes on Indians in the Transvaal. The newspaper came into its own. In 1904 its aims had simply been to educate whites in South Africa about Indian needs and wants. From 1906 onwards it became a vehicle for challenging state laws and urging defiance of these when these were clearly unjust. It is this that elevates this tiny newspaper produced from a farm to one of world significance for it became linked with Gandhi's transformation to a mass movement leader and his philosophy of satyagraha which can be interpreted as active non-violent resistance. The law was translated into Gujerati, readers were urged to defy the law, from Johannesburg Gandhi wrote a regular Johannesburg Letter explaining to anxious Indians what steps they should take and what the reaction of the authorities would be. Inspirational stories of resistance were published such as the life of Socrates who chose death rather than bow to the Athenian officials. The paper played a fundamental role on defeating the registration drive of officials. Its pages paid tribute to local resisters and Brian Gabriel, one of Natal's earliest Indian photographers, provided visual coverage. Gandhi who by 1909 had spent 177 days in jail - and there would be more to come - extolled the virtues of prison life, a life of poverty, and urged readers not to pursue wealth at a time when there was higher moral calling.
According to Gandhi `Satyagraha would have been impossible without Indian Opinion'. Gandhi recalled `the paper generally reached Johannesburg on Sunday morning. I know of many, whose first occupation after they received the paper would be to read the Gujerati section through from beginning to end. One of the company would read it, and the rest would surround him and listen. ' So as we acknowledge the importance of satyagraha as a weapon that evolved on South African soil, that inspired many anti-colonial, anti-imperial, anti-apartheid movements and movements in a quest for justice, a weapon that would ultimately bring the mighty British Empire to its heels in India, so we should acknowledge Indian Opinion. It was a key mobilising device. Gandhi also had a bigger campaign in mind - he had his eyes on India and in the pages of Indian Opinion he published his book Hind Swaraj which set out his vision for an independent India. Indian Opinion faced its first banning order - these issues were prohibited in India.
Although Indian Opinion began by advocating Indian rights it also focussed on the disabilities of other blacks in South Africa - the devastating provisions of the Land Act of 1913, the pass struggles of Africans were publicised and African achievements too were celebrated. In the 1950s especially under the editorship of Manilal Gandhi, Gandhi's second son, the newspaper became more focussed on human rights rather than the rights of Indians only. It became a central medium for disseminating the meaning of satyagraha and of propagating Gandhism. In a significant move in 1957 the English section of IO was renamed Opinion. In the words of Sushila Gandhi who took on the editorship after Manilal's death, the name change was to reflect the "Oneness of Man", the belief in `a new sense of nationhood &http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/artsmediaculture/arts/media/#8230; [that] transcends cultural and racial barriers and holds before all the ideal of a unified nation whose various people shall be bound together by their love of their country and their belief in the ideals on which their freedom should be founded. Gandhi she asserted belonged to not just "India and Indians only &http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/artsmediaculture/arts/media/#8230; the greatest teachers of humanity do not belong to their tribes or national groups they belong to humanity'. And this is what we commemorate today that great belief in fundamental human rights and the constant striving and vigilance to ensure its attainment.
Gandhi left behind a tough legacy for his successors at Indian Opinion to follow. This was not a commercial undertaking, it was a paper for political, social and moral education. It would be very remiss of me to not pay tribute to those who helped Gandhi shape his legacy in those early years and those who continued that legacy for several decades thereafter. There were the trustees of Phoenix Settlement and all those who on a regular basis who saved Indian Opinion from its dire financial straits. These names would be too numerous to mention. We need to recognise though in a roll call of honour at least the family of Parsee Rustomjee. There were many editors - Nazar, Hebert Kitchin, Henry Polak, Albert West, Manilal Gandhi who was the paper's longest serving editor for 36 years and Sushila Gandhi. There were many contributors, assistants and acting editors too - Gandhi's nephews, Chhaganlal and Maganlal Gandhi, Lewis Walter Ritch, Albert Christopher, Pragji Desai, Surendra Medh, Shantilal Gandhi, P.R. Pather, Jordan Ngubane, Christopher Gell, Homer Jack, Arun Gandhi, Sita Gandhi-Dhupelia, Ranjith Nowbath , Pat Poovalingam and Natoo Babenia. When Indian Opinion published its last issue on 4 August 1961, Alpha Ngcobo had served for 41 years after coming to the press as a young man of twenty years. Perumalsamy Rajoo served for 27 years, D. Gangabissoon sixteen , S. Ramdhar and R. Baijnath thirteen years each. They made up the small staff that daily gathered in the International Printing Press.
Sushila Gandhi above all ended a 34 year old link with the paper. She had come as a young bride of 20 years in 1927 and began in the press by composing types - each letter had to be handset - for over 58 years advances in printing technology were deliberately avoided. Time stood still and manual labour was favoured over machines. Sushila soon progressed to writing and editing the Gujerati sections and then took over after her husband's death. A photograph shows a lone woman in the printing press working amongst the handful of men. Indian Opinion provided a place where women could work as equals and be freed of cultural and traditional restraints and that was Gandhi's doing and teaching. And that too is what we celebrate and commemorate today. I thank you.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Adopt-a-book hoarding at Kemps Corner, Mumbai . Supported by Air India
Adopt-a-Book, a project by Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya . Air India supported this project by putting this hoarding at the prominent location of Kemps Corner, Mumbai during Gandhi Jayanti Week.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Salt Satyagraha, 1930 - One of the 10 Most Influential Protests
Britain's centuries-long rule over India was, in many ways, first and foremost a regime of monopolies over commodities like tea, textiles and even salt. Under colonial law, Indians were forbidden to extract and sell their own salt and instead were forced to pay the far higher price of salt processed in and imported from the U.K. In March 1930, Mohandas Gandhi, the charismatic and enigmatic independence leader, embarked on a 24-day march from the city of Ahmedabad to the small seaside town of Dandi, attracting followers along the way. The assembled throngs watched as he and dozens of others dipped into the sea to obtain salt. That act — for which more than 80,000 Indians would be arrested in the coming months — sparked years of mass civil disobedience that came to define both the Indian independence struggle and Gandhi himself. Known as the saltsatyagraha — a Sanskrit term loosely meaning "truth-force" — it carried the emotional and moral weight to break an empire.
Friday, April 29, 2011
M.K.Gandhi's perspective
It has been my experience that I am always true from my point of view, and am often wrong from the point of view of my honest critics. I know that we are both right from our respective points of view . And this knowledge saves me from attributing motives to my opponents or critics.
M.K. Gandhi
M.K. Gandhi
Friday, March 25, 2011
National Week Programme - April 6 to 8, 2011
| Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya & Gandhi Smarak Nidhi. Mumbai Cordially invite you for the National Week Programme April 6 to 8, 2011 at Mani Bhavan, Mumbai 400007. Tel No 23805864 & 23803332 | ||||||
| | | |||||
| Wednesday, 6-4-2011 | 3:30 p.m. | Talk by Prof. Nagindas Sanghavi on “ | ||||
| Thursday, 7-4-2011 | 4:30 p.m. | Get-together of Tourist Guides and discussion with them | ||||
| Friday, 8-4-2011 | 3:30 p.m. | Talk by Mr. Naresh Fernandes on “ Gandhi and Jazz Musicians | ||||
| Dr. Usha Thakkar Hon. Secretary Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya | Shri Vasant Pradhan Hon. Secretary Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai |
| | |
Monday, March 7, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Letter written by Gandhiji on third class travelling on Indian Railways.
A very interesting letter written by Gandhiji to Indian Press on third class travelling on Indian Railways.
LETTER TO THE PRESS ON THIRD CLASS TRAVELLING ON INDIAN RAILWAYS
RANCHI,
September 25, 1917
TO
THE EDITOR,
THE LEADER.
SIR,
I have now been in India for over two years and a half after my return from South Africa. Over one quarter of that time I have passed on the Indian trains travelling 3rd class by choice. I have travelled north as far as Lahore, down south up to Tranquebar, and from Karachi to Calcutta. Having resorted to third class travelling among other reasons for the purpose of studying the conditions under which this class of passengers travel, I have naturally made as critical observations as I could. I have fairly covered the majority of railway
systems during this period. Now and then I have entered into correspondence with the management of the different railways about defects that have come under my notice. But I think that the time has
come when I should invite the Press and the public to join in a crusade against a grievance which has too long remained unredressed, though much of it is capable of redress without great difficulty.
On the 12th instant I booked at Bombay for Madras by the mailtrain and paid Rs. 13-9. It was labelled to carry 22 passengers. These could only have seating accommodation. There were no bunks in this carriage whereon passengers could lie with any degree of safety or comfort. There were two nights to be passed in this train before reaching Madras. If not more than 22 passengers found their way into my carriage before we reached Poona, it was because the bolder ones kept the others at bay. With the exception of two or three insistent passengers, all had to find their sleep, being seated all the time. After reaching Raichur the pressure became unbearable. The rush of passengers could not be stayed. The fighters among us found the task almost beyond them. The guards or other railway servants came in only to push in more passengers. A defiant Memon merchant protested against this packing of passengers like sardines. In vain did he say that this was his fifth night on the train. The guard insulted him and referred him to the management at the terminus. There were during this night as many as 35 passengers in the carriage during the greater part of it. Some lay on the floor in the midst of dirt and some had to keep standing. A free fight was at one time avoided only by the intervention of some of the older passengers who did not want to add to the discomfort by an
exhibition of temper.
On the way, passengers got for tea tannin-water with filthy sugar and a whitish-looking liquid miscalled milk which gave this water a muddy appearance. I can vouch for the appearance, but I cite the testimony of the passengers as to the taste.
Not during the whole of the journey was the compartment once swept or cleaned. The result was every time you walked on the floor or rather cut your way through the passengers seated on the floor, you
waded through dirt. The closet was also not cleaned during the journey and there was no water in the water tank. Refreshments sold to the passengers were dirty-looking, handed by dirtier hands, coming out of filthy receptacles and weighed in equally unattractive scales. These were previously sampled by millions of flies. I asked some of the passengers who went in for these dainties to give their opinion. Many of them used choice expressions as to the quality but were satisfied to state that they were helpless in the matter; they had to take things as they came.
On reaching the station, I found that the ghariwala would not take me unless I paid the fare he wanted. I mildly protested and told him I would pay him the authorized fare. I had to turn passive resister before I could be taken. I simply told him he would have to pull me out of the ghari or call the policeman.
The return journey was performed in no better manner. The carriage was packed already and but for a friend’s intervention, I could not have been able to secure even a seat. My admission was certainly beyond the authorized number. This compartment was constructed to carry 9 passengers but it had constantly 12 in it. At one place, an important railway servant swore at a protestant, threatened to strike him and locked the door over the passengers whom he had with difficulty squeezed in. To this compartment there was a closet falsely so called. It was designed as a European closet but could hardly be used as such. There was a pipe in it but no water, and I say without fear of challenge that it was pestilentially dirty. The compartment itself was evil-looking. Dirt was lying thick upon the wood work and I do not know that it had ever seen soap or water.
The compartment had an exceptional assortment of passengers. There were stalwart Punjabi Mahommedans, two refined Tamilians and two Mahommedan merchants who joined us later. The merchants related [about] the bribes they had to give to procure comfort. One of the Punjabis had already travelled three nights and was weary and fatigued. But he could not stretch himself. He said he had sat the whole day at the Central Station, watching passengers giving bribes to procure their tickets. Another said he had himself to pay Rs. 5 before
he could get his ticket and his seat. These three men were bound for Ludhiana and had still more nights of travel in store for them. What I have described is not exceptional but normal. I have got
down at Raichur, Dhond, Sonepur, Chakardharpur, Purulia, Asansol and other junction stations and been at the Mosafirkhana attached to these stations. They are discreditable-looking places where there is no order, no cleanliness but utter confusion and horrible din and noise.
Passengers have no benches or not enough to sit on. They squat on dirty floors and eat dirty food. They are permitted to throw the leavings of their food and spit where they like, sit how they like, and smoke everywhere. The closets attached to these places defy description. I have not the power to adequately describe them without committing a breach of the laws of decent speech. Disinfecting powder, ashes or disinfecting fluids are unknown. The army of flies buzzing about them warns you against their use. But a third class traveller is dumb and helpless. He does not want to complain even though to go to these places may be to court death. I know passengers who fast while they are travelling just in order to lessen the misery of their life in the trains. At Sonepur flies having failed, wasps have come forth to warn the public and the authorities, but yet to no purpose. At the Imperial Capital a certain 3rd class booking office is a Black Hole fit only to be destroyed.
Is it any wonder that plague has become endemic in India? Any other result is impossible where passengers always leave some dirt where they go and take more on leaving. On Indian trains alone passengers smoke with impunity in all carriages irrespective of the presence of the fair sex and irrespective of the protest of non-smokers. And this notwithstanding a bye-law which prevents a passenger from smoking without the permission of his fellows in a compartment which is not allotted to smokers. The existence of the awful war cannot be allowed to stand in the way of removal of this gigantic evil. War can be no warrant for
tolerating dirt and overcrowding. One could understand an entire stoppage of passenger traffic in a crisis like this, but never a continuation or accentuation of insanitation and conditions that must undermine health and morality. Compare the lot of the 1st class passengers with that of the 3rd class. In the Madras case, the 1st class fare is over five times as much as the 3rd class fare. Does the third class passenger get one-fifth, even one-tenth, of the comforts of his first class fellow? It is but simple justice to claim that some relative
proportion be observed between the cost and comfort. It is a known fact that the 3rd class traffic pays for the ever increasing luxuries of 1st and 2nd class travelling. Surely a third class passenger is entitled at least to the bare necessities of life.
In neglecting the 3rd class passengers, opportunity of giving a splendid education to millions in orderliness, sanitation, decent composite life, and cultivation of simple and clean tastes is being lost. Instead of receiving an object lesson in these matters, 3rd class passengers have their sense of decency and cleanliness blunted during
their travelling experience.
Among the many suggestions that can be made for dealing with the evil here described, I would respectfully include this: Let the people in high places, the Viceroy, the Commander-in-chief, the Rajas, Maharajas, the Imperial Councillors and others, who generally travel in superior classes, without previous warning, go through
the experiences now and then of 3rd class travelling. We would then soon see a remarkable change in the conditions of the 3rd class travelling and the uncomplaining millions will get some return for the fares they pay under the expectation of being carried from place to place with the ordinary creature comforts.
I am,
Yours,
M. K. GANDHI.
LETTER TO THE PRESS ON THIRD CLASS TRAVELLING ON INDIAN RAILWAYS
RANCHI,
September 25, 1917
TO
THE EDITOR,
THE LEADER.
SIR,
I have now been in India for over two years and a half after my return from South Africa. Over one quarter of that time I have passed on the Indian trains travelling 3rd class by choice. I have travelled north as far as Lahore, down south up to Tranquebar, and from Karachi to Calcutta. Having resorted to third class travelling among other reasons for the purpose of studying the conditions under which this class of passengers travel, I have naturally made as critical observations as I could. I have fairly covered the majority of railway
systems during this period. Now and then I have entered into correspondence with the management of the different railways about defects that have come under my notice. But I think that the time has
come when I should invite the Press and the public to join in a crusade against a grievance which has too long remained unredressed, though much of it is capable of redress without great difficulty.
On the 12th instant I booked at Bombay for Madras by the mailtrain and paid Rs. 13-9. It was labelled to carry 22 passengers. These could only have seating accommodation. There were no bunks in this carriage whereon passengers could lie with any degree of safety or comfort. There were two nights to be passed in this train before reaching Madras. If not more than 22 passengers found their way into my carriage before we reached Poona, it was because the bolder ones kept the others at bay. With the exception of two or three insistent passengers, all had to find their sleep, being seated all the time. After reaching Raichur the pressure became unbearable. The rush of passengers could not be stayed. The fighters among us found the task almost beyond them. The guards or other railway servants came in only to push in more passengers. A defiant Memon merchant protested against this packing of passengers like sardines. In vain did he say that this was his fifth night on the train. The guard insulted him and referred him to the management at the terminus. There were during this night as many as 35 passengers in the carriage during the greater part of it. Some lay on the floor in the midst of dirt and some had to keep standing. A free fight was at one time avoided only by the intervention of some of the older passengers who did not want to add to the discomfort by an
exhibition of temper.
On the way, passengers got for tea tannin-water with filthy sugar and a whitish-looking liquid miscalled milk which gave this water a muddy appearance. I can vouch for the appearance, but I cite the testimony of the passengers as to the taste.
Not during the whole of the journey was the compartment once swept or cleaned. The result was every time you walked on the floor or rather cut your way through the passengers seated on the floor, you
waded through dirt. The closet was also not cleaned during the journey and there was no water in the water tank. Refreshments sold to the passengers were dirty-looking, handed by dirtier hands, coming out of filthy receptacles and weighed in equally unattractive scales. These were previously sampled by millions of flies. I asked some of the passengers who went in for these dainties to give their opinion. Many of them used choice expressions as to the quality but were satisfied to state that they were helpless in the matter; they had to take things as they came.
On reaching the station, I found that the ghariwala would not take me unless I paid the fare he wanted. I mildly protested and told him I would pay him the authorized fare. I had to turn passive resister before I could be taken. I simply told him he would have to pull me out of the ghari or call the policeman.
The return journey was performed in no better manner. The carriage was packed already and but for a friend’s intervention, I could not have been able to secure even a seat. My admission was certainly beyond the authorized number. This compartment was constructed to carry 9 passengers but it had constantly 12 in it. At one place, an important railway servant swore at a protestant, threatened to strike him and locked the door over the passengers whom he had with difficulty squeezed in. To this compartment there was a closet falsely so called. It was designed as a European closet but could hardly be used as such. There was a pipe in it but no water, and I say without fear of challenge that it was pestilentially dirty. The compartment itself was evil-looking. Dirt was lying thick upon the wood work and I do not know that it had ever seen soap or water.
The compartment had an exceptional assortment of passengers. There were stalwart Punjabi Mahommedans, two refined Tamilians and two Mahommedan merchants who joined us later. The merchants related [about] the bribes they had to give to procure comfort. One of the Punjabis had already travelled three nights and was weary and fatigued. But he could not stretch himself. He said he had sat the whole day at the Central Station, watching passengers giving bribes to procure their tickets. Another said he had himself to pay Rs. 5 before
he could get his ticket and his seat. These three men were bound for Ludhiana and had still more nights of travel in store for them. What I have described is not exceptional but normal. I have got
down at Raichur, Dhond, Sonepur, Chakardharpur, Purulia, Asansol and other junction stations and been at the Mosafirkhana attached to these stations. They are discreditable-looking places where there is no order, no cleanliness but utter confusion and horrible din and noise.
Passengers have no benches or not enough to sit on. They squat on dirty floors and eat dirty food. They are permitted to throw the leavings of their food and spit where they like, sit how they like, and smoke everywhere. The closets attached to these places defy description. I have not the power to adequately describe them without committing a breach of the laws of decent speech. Disinfecting powder, ashes or disinfecting fluids are unknown. The army of flies buzzing about them warns you against their use. But a third class traveller is dumb and helpless. He does not want to complain even though to go to these places may be to court death. I know passengers who fast while they are travelling just in order to lessen the misery of their life in the trains. At Sonepur flies having failed, wasps have come forth to warn the public and the authorities, but yet to no purpose. At the Imperial Capital a certain 3rd class booking office is a Black Hole fit only to be destroyed.
Is it any wonder that plague has become endemic in India? Any other result is impossible where passengers always leave some dirt where they go and take more on leaving. On Indian trains alone passengers smoke with impunity in all carriages irrespective of the presence of the fair sex and irrespective of the protest of non-smokers. And this notwithstanding a bye-law which prevents a passenger from smoking without the permission of his fellows in a compartment which is not allotted to smokers. The existence of the awful war cannot be allowed to stand in the way of removal of this gigantic evil. War can be no warrant for
tolerating dirt and overcrowding. One could understand an entire stoppage of passenger traffic in a crisis like this, but never a continuation or accentuation of insanitation and conditions that must undermine health and morality. Compare the lot of the 1st class passengers with that of the 3rd class. In the Madras case, the 1st class fare is over five times as much as the 3rd class fare. Does the third class passenger get one-fifth, even one-tenth, of the comforts of his first class fellow? It is but simple justice to claim that some relative
proportion be observed between the cost and comfort. It is a known fact that the 3rd class traffic pays for the ever increasing luxuries of 1st and 2nd class travelling. Surely a third class passenger is entitled at least to the bare necessities of life.
In neglecting the 3rd class passengers, opportunity of giving a splendid education to millions in orderliness, sanitation, decent composite life, and cultivation of simple and clean tastes is being lost. Instead of receiving an object lesson in these matters, 3rd class passengers have their sense of decency and cleanliness blunted during
their travelling experience.
Among the many suggestions that can be made for dealing with the evil here described, I would respectfully include this: Let the people in high places, the Viceroy, the Commander-in-chief, the Rajas, Maharajas, the Imperial Councillors and others, who generally travel in superior classes, without previous warning, go through
the experiences now and then of 3rd class travelling. We would then soon see a remarkable change in the conditions of the 3rd class travelling and the uncomplaining millions will get some return for the fares they pay under the expectation of being carried from place to place with the ordinary creature comforts.
I am,
Yours,
M. K. GANDHI.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Martyrs' Day Programme 2011 at Mani Bhavan
Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai
&
Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya
has organised programme for Martyrs' Day
to mark 63rd Death Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi)
on Sunday , January 30th, 2011
at Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai - 400 007
to mark 63rd Death Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi)
on Sunday , January 30th, 2011
at Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai - 400 007
Programme:
| | 7.30 - 8.00 a.m. | Mass Spinning |
| | 8.00 - 9.00 a.m. | Prayers & Bhajans by: |
| | | Smt.Gita Yannamandi, Saraswati Vrindagaan Mandal, Gamdevi. |
| | | Shri Somnath Parab |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 9.00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. | Favourite Bhajans of Gandhiji by Priti Bhatt |
| | | |
| | | |
You are invited to please join us to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.
| Shri Vasant Pradhan President Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Mumbai. | Srimati Usha Gokani President Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai. |
Programmes to mark the 63rd Death Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi
Bhavan’s Kala Kendra will start a monthly programme “Saregama” for the lovers of music of old films and classical compositions. This programme will be a Listeners’ Club where different genre and themes will be presented in association with “The Society of Indian Record Collectors” and “Sargam” to the appreciative music lovers. It will be held at Bhavans Chowpatty on 4th Saturday of every month from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm.
The series will be inaugurated on Saturday 29th January 2011 at 5.00 pm at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty. The theme will be “Homage to the Mahatma”. It will feature audio-visual presentation including excerpts from the rare speeches in Gandhiji’s own voice, Gandhiji’s favorite Bhajans and songs. This special audio-visual presentation is being jointly organized with Gandhi Smarak Nidhi-Mumbai, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya and Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal and will be conducted by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar.
ALL MUSIC LOVERS ARE WELCOME.
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