Saurabh Tewari

Ms Sushma, an educator at the Nai Taalim Centre, along with Mr Adwait, an educator from Bengaluru working in Sevagram, hosted us at the Nai Taalim School. The participants witnessed all the laboratories dealing with life skills including spinning, knitting, cleaning, farming, drawing, craft etc. and its integration with the mainstream academic structure for the students at the school. 

Made in the memory of Shri Maganlal Gandhi, one of the nephews of Bapu, Magan Sangrahalay (museum) houses the artefacts related to Mahatma Gandhi. We interacted with Ms Vibha Gupta, the chairperson of the trust looking after the museum, about various issues of development and sustainability in relation with the philosophy of Bapu. Then a volnteer took all the participants around the live craft section of the complex, Magan Khadi. Participants witnessed not just the traditional methods of spinning and dyeing but also the innovative products like knitted T-shirt, real-leaf block prints etc.

Mahatma Gandhi has been an iconic and omnipresent figure in India. Like, many of my co-citizens, I know a bit about his role in independence, his philosophy and writings. However, personally, there was no enquiry into the spaces he lived in. Thanks to EPCO Fellowship, I was able to visit the historical sites associated with Gandhi in Sevagram and Wardha. I further realised that I have seen his other residences, in Phoenix, and at Sabarmati. In this series, I will present snippets from Sevagram and Wardha. Again, the idea is to understand the Gandhian philosophy through spaces, objects and practices.

Sevagram Gandhi Ashram
The Sevagram complex is made up of four significant buildings, including the Aadi Kutir, Bapu Kutir, Baa Kutir and Jamnalal Bajaj residence. Aadi Kutir was the first building to be made where Mahatma Gandhi stayed first along with his peers on the invitation of Jamnalal Bajaj of Wardha in 1936. Interestingly, Bapu limited the budget of the building to Rs 1, so it had to be made using the local material procured from the site. It is a minimal assemble of habitat spaces with ascetic materials like local timber and mud. The low ceiling height with the harmonic pillars around keep the experience serene and humble. This place witnessed historical meetings with many luminaries from India's freedom struggle. Later, with the larger influx of visitors in the setup the other huts were made. Its story reminded me of great suggestion to the architect Laurie Baker about using the building material from close vicinity. Perhaps, the Aadi Kutir was the reference.

The whole complex conveys a spiritual emotion through its grounded planes and landscape. Every other second, I felt Gandhi was present around. The gravel on the ground and walking barefoot around was a tactical experience of the space. The objects kept in the residences manifests the simplicity of Gandhi's everyday life.

PS: The early morning prayer at 4:45 a.m. was heavenly. I strongly reccommend attending it, if you plan to visit Sevagram.​