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 :)

Jim Corbett Park-Day 2 and the rest of the trip

A bottle-brush  basking in  sunlight:)

To read about Day-1 activities click here

Day-2- Dhikala & Durga Devi: The night was cosily chilly and quiet & bed was comfi. Surprizingly, I got up exactly at 3:30 am (surprisingly meant without any alarm ;)). Got ready and was all set to leave for our Jeep safari by 4:15 am. Today we had planned for our Jeep Safari at ‘Durga Devi’ and a canter safari to
'Dhikala'.

 

We spotted this one toothed mast tuskar on the main road to Dhikala   

Here we saw barking deer, golden mahsheer, birds, yellow red,great barbert, amazing view and not to forget Tiger Pug marks, lots of them. By this time we had learned to identify them whether it was a male or a female.Lots of fresh elephant footmarks as well. Durga devi safari zone was more moist and has deciduous flora. One time during the day the sunrays came filtered from tall trees as if it is being sieved through the leaves giving different colours to the rays.This was an amazing magic trick of nature and the most memorable one. During this safari we managed to see a few of very rare species of birds and then in the afternoon we took the canter ride to Dhikala. Here the grassland like habitat was totally different from where we had been in the morning.

We saw lots of deers, sambhars, elephants in herds and both Durgadevi and Dhikala but the highlight of this day was something else that we encountered at the highway.A one toothed mast tuskar that we spotted on the road very near to Dhikala zone. Clicking this huge, mast elephant while charging at the vehicles( including ours) was one wildlife  experience  that I won’t forget. I actually got terrified of this elephant as it had come very near to our jeep while charging.

This was an amazing view! stopping the vehicle and just sitting there for sometime  was a treat in itself here:)

Day-3: Jhirna- Safari to Durga Devi and Dhikala was very tiring. We realized the fatigue only when we reached the resort back in the evening. After a tasty dinner we again fell on our beds, only to be awake at 3: 30 am again the next morning. Today we were going to Jhirna on Jeep safari.  the highlight of this day was clicking peacocks from very close on a dry river bed. And the tiger roar. Yes,we sat inside a cemented ‘machaan’ like small enclosure which was situated right on top of the hill from where you could see the other side of the Jungle bordering the river stream.We spent atleast an hour there hoping to see a tiger but all we could hear was the tiger growls. The roar suggested that there were two of them walking towards the thick jungle uphill.   The view from where we sat and waited for the tiger, was beautiful with sunrays falling on the stream. The jungle aloud with the sound of the wind and the chirping of birds, also the sound of other animals like monkeys, deers would immediately become silent every time there was a tiger growl.

Although we were not lucky enough to spot any tiger but were lucky enough to enjoy & discover the  habitat of the Jungle. A habitat! which is inspite of being rugged, cruel and with its own set of rules, tells that man is still an outsider when it comes to the animal world “the dense forest”

 After we came back from Jhirna we started for our drive back to Delhi.

Corbett forest and jungle are home to many different other species of fauna.  a heaven for bird enthusiasts. Is also one of the best bird watching area in india. Surrounded with different habitat types: mountains, saal trees, grassland etc it has a splendid landscape and has diverse wildlife. In 1956 this national park was renamed after colonel Jim Corbett,who is considered the ‘missionary of wildlife conservation in India’. This oldest national park in India has following major zones:Bijrani, Dhikala, Durga Devi, Jhirna & Sitabani.

1