What would Ghandi say?

Sunday 25th May

- the Ghandi Ashram
plus
- Edd regrets a hatless day earlier in the week

fine comfort and great showers are still of little help when your room is uncomfortably hot. Philippa got very little sleep, having to lie on wet towels to even approach a degree of comfort, hardly ideal. the fan helped a bit, of course, but at times it felt like it was only circulating hot air. outside was very much a ramped up version of our room; hot, stifling, quite oppressive. an ATM visit, as ever, provided a physically shocking contrast, as they universally possess the best AC of anywhere in India. it's like stepping into a freezer. the fact that it's also usually the backdrop for people living in the streets is a bitter contrast. it may also explain why so many ATMs have armed security guards, to ensure that those with money are not bothered by having to deal with those that don't.

a rickshaw took us across the river and North to the Sabarmati Ashram, set up by Ghandi in 1917, and now a well organised and free museum. its principles were simple and magnanimous; to strive for the abandonment of possessions and desires, as well as the pursuit of the love of all of one's fellow men, hard work for the benefit of one's immediate community, prayer, meditation and abstinence. what would he have made of the cloistered, pod-world of the guarded ATMs?

a centre in the grounds of the Ashram preaches some worthy ideals,
if challenging for a Western audience.

on reflection, later that day, it was also worth wondering what the champion of Indian values and products over those imported from the West, this extraordinary campaigner for the removal of inequalities and the caste treatment of the so-called 'untouchables,' would have made of our journey to the ashram he set up to further those principles and spread the word. the road was peppered with boutiques, luxury car and van stores, and a McDonald's. on the last main road to the ashram, which is even called Ashram Road, a huge slum area opened up on our left, a dirt road lined with a city of corrugated shacks, their roofs weighed down with broken rubble. there was a clear line where development and money stopped, almost like an invisible barrier, with each of the two sides of the city's community filling right up to it without interaction or acknowledgement. a small child with very apparent diarrhoea squatted at the edge of the road, unnoticed. in many ways, India has gone backwards since independence and from Ghandi's ideals.

the ashram is a modest acreage of grass and trees around dirt paths and a scattered number of single storey buildings with tiled roofs, painted white. it was here that Ghandi entertained world leaders when they visited him. his simple and to-the-point subsistence room is here, set up with his spinning wheel for local Indian khadi cloth, a fine symbol of independence.

it was also here that he set out on his 400km walk to Dandi to collect salt from the sea in defiance of this British tax for the one of the basic necessities of life. consequently, there is a lot to tell of the ashram is Ghandi's life, as well as a fine walk through his entire personal and philosophical history. the museum copes admirably with this weighty task, and is the one other thing that we would encourage people to visit if in Ahmedabad other than the Calico Museum of Textiles (see our blog page for details of our visit). to learn of the unique contribution of this one man to both Indian and world history in more detail is a must, and to be able to do it where it all actually happened is invaluable.

when we arrived at the ashram, early, the grounds were virtually deserted. the only exception was a group of children responding animatedly to some form of class, spread out on a rug to one side of Ghandi's house. the numbers of visitors swelled, being a Sunday, but the grounds and possibly the location kept things quieter than usual (Indian's often make very noisy tourists). did they make any connection between Ghandi's teachings in the museum and the relentless commercials and consumerism on display on their televisions, or the poverty and stark inequalities on display right outside the ashram entrance?

did they also notice the view afforded by the Sabarmati River? although it was hard to believe it in this heat, Gujarat suffered severe floods a few years ago and massive flood defences were being constructed on the currently bone dry bed of the river. on the far side, a huge mini-city of shacks and lean-to's had been cobbled together from metal scraps, stone cast offs and rags. you see this around most major projects, here. the scheme draws in workers and their families just follow and throw together dwellings right next to the construction. behind them, a tall factory chimney spewed out thick black smoke into the sky. it was a far cry from the placid gardens of the ashram on the opposite bank.

Edd hadn't been feeling great all day, so we spent some time sitting in the shade and watching squirrels tear about - we never seem to get tired of their frantic antics. another auto-rickshaw took us home, where Philippa got her camera batteries from the nice man who had opened his shop especially for her, and on time, too. we crossed the road directly and had lunch at the Kalapi restaurant, immediately noticing its cooling AC interior. Edd still felt odd, so he played it safe with South Indian uttapams, rice-based pancakes much like pizza, and a mouth-surprising thick, mixed fruit lassi with cashews.

recharging batteries at the hotel, literally in Philippa's case, Edd found that he could not sleep, write or rest comfortably. overheating, he had a shower to try and cool down. [Edd: my reaction was as unexpected as it was alarming. I started shivering uncontrollably, almost as if I had hypothermia. I thought that I was freezing, but Philippa confirmed that my temperature was feverishly hot. unable to regulate my body temperature, Phillipa took excellent care, with cold flannels or blankets as appropriate.] the memory of Edd's disgruntled and hat-less trek to find an STD phone two days previously came back very clearly. the state that Edd was in gave us both a real shock and any plans that we might have had for the afternoon were immediately thrown out. Edd burned and froze alternately for hours until he began to get control of his temperature again, and it was not until the evening that he felt up for a short walk to somewhere to eat.

we chose the Paramount again; although Edd wasn't entirely sure about his minced chicken steak with pineapple - Indian cuisine?! - the atmosphere, curtained booths, and especially the AC, was as welcoming as before. afterwards, we managed to find a drinks shop to purchase provisions for tomorrow's early start bus journey to Palitana. still at a low ebb, we packed in a day that had started well but had then been rather unpleasant for us both in different ways, due to Edd's probable heatstroke. the ceiling fan worked hard to cool us down, but it was another oppressive night. Philippa's wet towel bed idea of the night before was now in use by us both. it seemed that the curse of the night before travelling with an early start was upon us once more.

[Edd: I felt unwell, miserable and too hot to sleep. I am sure that I would have failed miserably at Ghandi's ashram].

love

edd & philippa