Friday October 2 was a national holiday for Mohandas K. Gandhi's birthday. I had the day to myself, so I decided to go to the Aga Khan Palace. Gandhi was jailed here from 1942 to 1944 during his Quit India movement. The grounds are quiet and shaded, and several school groups were visiting the national monument for the day. 
I toured the rooms where Gandhi and the important people in his movement were held. Sarojini Naidu was an advocate for women's rights, and was released because of poor health. I drew her earlier this year for my Hindi class. Gandhi's bathroom was nicer than mine is, but that seems only fair if he was jailed in a palace
Gandhi's wife Kasturba Gandhi and his secretary Mahadevbai Desai both died here, and Gandhi built their samadhi on the grounds. I followed the path from the rooms where they were jailed to their tombs.Gandhi's ashes are also on the grounds, in the same courtyard.
This is only one of two places where they are enshrined. The rest of his ashes were scattered in the Ganges and the Arabian Sea.I ignored the "keep off the lawns" signs to take photos of the palace and the fountain. The four-headed lion motif is a symbol of India that is taken from Emperor Ashoka's reign, and is on all of the currency. Gandhi's portrait is on all of the rupee notes. Coins come in 1, 2, and 5 rupees, and notes come in denominations of 10, 20, 50, and.100.
Occasionally you'll see a 5 rupee note, and if you withdraw a large amount from an ATM, you usually get notes of Rs500 and 1000. Those are sometimes difficult to get change for.
After I explored, a family asked me to take lunch with them. I practiced my few Marathi phrases and my basic Hindi.
Nice snaps, specially the "palace in background of fountain" one !!
ReplyDeleteAlso Gandhi's bathroom is nicer and cleaner than yours, because no one has been using it :)
Haha! No, I mean his bathroom has a marble bathtub and a Western toilet, where I have a shower (otherwise known as a bucket and cup) and an Indian toilet. I don't have marble floors and walls either!
ReplyDeleteHey Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteIndian toilet infact makes doing the business quite easy! Putting the pressure at right places :)
As for the marble, is it Italian marble or Indian marble in Gandhi's bathroom? In fact the place where I come from (ie. Jabalpur), has lots of marble rocks on both sides of river Narmada. But sure I am really jealous of Gandhi, if he has got Italian marble fixtures up there in Agha Khan palace.
Cheers
Naveen