Gandhiji & his historic Shimla connection
Shailaja Khanna
2018-2019 marks the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, arguably the most famous and influential Indian in recent times. Every year, five to six books are still written on Gandhiji and his legacy. Despite his death 70 years ago, his ideas remain relevant even today, and not just in an Indian context; his minimalistic approach to life and how to use natural resources, his austere lifestyle, self-discipline, non-violence are just a few of the concepts he espoused so passionately all his life.
Gandhiji’s Shimla connection during 1921-1946 is now being forgotten; he visited the summer capital 11 times during this period; amazingly, three times in 1931 in May July and August! Shimla, or Simla as it was then known, was the summer capital, and during the summer, the Viceroy and the entire government moved there. His first visit to Simla was with his wife Kasturba, in 1921, when apparently he went up in the famous Kalka-Simla toy train. Gandhiji met the then Governor General (or Viceroy as he was also called) Lord Reading in 1921, also Lord Willingdon in 1931, and Lord Wavell in 1945; he was also part of the famous Cripps Mission in Simla in 1946. His visits to Viceregal Lodge (now the Indian Institute of Advanced Study), being pulled in a rickshaw, as no vehicles were allowed, are a reminder of how things have changed in Shimla since those days.
There was a personal connection with Simla too -- it was the residence of his associate of many years, Rajkumari Bibi Amrit Kaur. She was also his secretary for 16 years. In fact he stayed at her house, Manorville, during three of his visits to Simla, and met her brother Raja Raghubir Singh too, officially. It was interesting to hear reminiscences of meeting Bapu in 1945 by a then young 13-year-old Rajkumari Lalita, now in her 80s. Niece of Bibi Amrit Kaur, the young teenager recalls how she and her cousin late Kr Satyajit Singh had requested Sarojini Naidu, who had come to tea the day before to their home, to present them to the leader. In the 1940s, the aura of Bapu apparently was irresistible especially to the youth, and the chance of actually talking to their hero was an opportunity they could not miss. Every evening Bapu would give a talk in the lawns of Chadwick House, called his prayer meeting where his admirers would hear his discourse and afterwards, if they were lucky, would actually get a chance to even talk to him or touch his feet for a blessing. Lalita recalls walking up to the great leader, as he was making his way back, attired in his usual off-white dhoti with a simple shawl around his shoulders. He was followed by a large coterie, including Vallabhbhai Patel and Bibi Amrit Kaur amongst many others. He was preceded by Maulana Azad, whom she recalls as being very handsome and elegantly dressed. Sarojini Naidu introduced both cousins to the Mahatma; he blessed both of them and asked about their grandfather whom he knew.
The unforgettable, warmly beaming wide smile of the leader and his faintly high-pitched voice remain indelibly in the admiring teenagers’ mind; she says one felt one was in the presence of a great man.
The Himachal Pradesh government is planning to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma, starting from October 2 this year. In the words of senior bureaucrat Dr Purnima Chauhan, “Gandhiji is relevant to people of all ages and class, and will remain so in the years to come.”
