Delhi, Gandhi, and Me - Part 2

Keeping the horrible heat aside, my next stop was at Safdarjung road - Indira Gandhi's residence. The place where Indira Priyadarshini 'Gandhi' spent her time in the 'service' of we Indians, and dedicated her whole life for the 'betterment' of the poor Indian society, has been converted in to a museum. It was a strange feeling, to be on the spot where a PM was assassinated by her own guards. It was, well, 'different'.

The museum had in display lot of newspaper reports of the incidents that happened to/because of her. Also in display were some of Rajiv Gandhi's things like the dress and shoes he wore for the last time in his life, before being assassinated in Sriperumbathur in my-own-Chennai. But there was one thing which caught my attention - the laptop he used! Believe me, we had a PM who used laptop in the late 80s! I've heard he was interested in gadgets. It was amazing to see.

Finally, it was the visit to Gandhi smriti that gave an unforgettable experience of my life time. It was the place where he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and others. After visiting the dead Mughal kings, politicians who are alive but of no use, and PMs who died for the country during their 'service', I visited the man who lives even after his death. I'm telling about the original Gandhi - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Now that we have too many Gandhis 'ruling their India', the actual Gandhi who never ruled 'India by power' but 'Indians by his principles', is in such a pathetic state that he has to be introduced.

To be honest, I'm no fan of Gandhi. Nor do I hate him. He has always been a mystery to me. Before I read the first half of his autobiography, I thought he was almost a God. After I finished the first half, I realised he was just an ordinary human. In fact I started to hate him for no particular reasons. When I saw Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi' and Kamal Hassan's 'Hey Ram', he gained some respect from me. After I finished reading 'Freedom at midnight' by Dominique la pierre and Larry Collins, I lost some more respect I had for him. So, it has always been like this.

Gandhi is never a static image in my mind.

When I said it was 'an unforgettable experience of my life time', I was not emotional or over-acting. It was truly such an experience. The taxi which had no AC, the afternoon heat, thirst and hunger - all these had taken me to a dreamy state.
After seeing some of Gandhi's belongings and a fantastic science museum which explains his life and principle in a very innovative way, I felt I was in January, 1948.

I walked along the path by which he used to walk to his daily prayers. The path had markings of his feet. On the sides were several paintings depicting incidents in his life. I entered the prayer area where he was assassinated.

I played in my mind, the scene of his assassination from the movies 'Gandhi' and 'Hey Ram'.

I could imagine Gandhi hurrying to his last prayer meeting for which he was unusually late.

I could imagine Nathuram Godse ready to fire. Was there any Saket Ram there? Or were there many Saket Rams?

It was a surrealistic moment.

I never heard the gun shot. It happened in silence.

When I came out I had only this in my mind - 'Did he really utter 'Hey Ram' before dying?'

--S--