Gandhi Smriti & Darshan Samiti-Eternal Gandhi

Gandhi Smriti- Honouring virtues of truth, non-violence,unity & integrity

5, Tees January Marg, New Delhi-11

I have lived in Delhi all my life but never visited some of the well-known places that one should explore atleast once while here. This city has so much to discover and walk around to. It charms you with both old and modern styled cultural and innovative themes. It catches you offguard too! As it did to me when I visited 'Gandhi Museum' 

Honestly, I am not a person who would want to spend almost two hours looking at historical pictures and models of freedom fighters including Mahatma Gandhi. 'Coz most of 'us Indians' have done it while growing up (yeah! history was an interesting subject in elementary school and as kids we dug into it enthusiastically:))

Well! after a lot of goading by my father to atleast accompany him to Gandhi Museum, I decided to go. 

Gandhi Harp- This installation images Gandhi in the form of Harp. Each string when struck plays Indian national freedom songs.

My motive was to find a set of good postcards depicting Gandhi's life. So that I can use them for my exchanges. And yay!! I did find some interesting postcards depicting his life. Some of them are here-

Post Card(1)-Mahatma Gandhi with Lady and Lord Mountbatten, 1947

Postcard(2)-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in South Africa ,1906 and Gandhi in 1944

Postcard(3)-Gandhi drafting a document at Birla House, August 1942

M.K.Gandhi with his wife Kasturba 

See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no evil-Gandhiji's three monkeys

This is where Gandhiji was assassinated at 5:17 pm on 30th Jan, 1948.If you see closely,the small pillar reads:"Hey Ram"(these were his last words when he died).Also mentioned is the time & date as 5:17 evening, 30.1.48

Gandhiji's footsteps leading to the park in the garden outside the  Birla House

Birla House treasures cherished memories of Gandhi's last few days (last 144 days here) India's Father of Nation died here on friday, Jan 30 ,1948.

  

Gandhi's devotion to truth and non-violence have influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela,and his beliefs continue to be studied and analyzed today.
At the memorial there is an interesting set of paintings & sketches made by children (when they were asked  to present Bapu's /father's vision for today's times) Gandhi was affectionately called "Father of our Nation" by the people of India.Some of those paintings depicted following themes & thoughts-

- mehnat ki kamai (hard earned money)

- prithvi ki raksha (Safety of mother earth)

- prem se jeeto ladai (Win everyone with love)

- bapu ko na bhulo (Don't forget Bapu /Father)

These paintings have also been made into huge kaleidoscopes (depicting stories of Gandhiji by children).

I realized, I was actually paying attention here....Remember, I came here half heartedly.

I was impressed by the research put into the Design and the usage of the concepts of multimedia-computing & Innovative tools. It's an excellent example of modern technological learning applications that are very much culturally reflective and body-friendly. It truly reflects Gandhi's thoughts on ecology, women, sensitivity to our surroundings and respect for all mankind. 

Other installations like-'Pillar of Castelessness','Stambh' (The Eleven Vows for the Satyagrahi), 'The Tim Line Browser', 'Dimensions of the Salt March', 'To Do Or Die' illustrated Gandhi & his thoughts perfectly.

This made me stay back a l'll while longer to explore the rest of the premises :)