PHOTOGRAPHY, LIFE EXPERIENCE, GRATITUDE
A Saga of Self-Reliance and Non-Violence Movement
March Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Movement”
History Spun from Revolution to Freedom
Among many visits to Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, I would remember one visit for a much longer time.
I was visiting the ashram with a friend in December a few years back and there we met a group of primary school children visiting the place too.
They were asked to sit surrounding a volunteer who showed to them how the charkha (spinning wheel) worked. She narrated how the Indians outshone the world with its self-sufficiency and its prowess in every aspect.
She went on about the sacrifice of millions of Indians who took up the Swadeshi and the Non-Cooperation movement led by Gandhiji, our beloved Bapu (father).
I was amazed at the quantum of engagement and reverence of the school children showed while they were singing —
Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je PeeD paraayi jaaNe re Par-dukhkhe upkaar kare toye Mann abhimaan na aaNe re …
This is a devotional song (bhajan) written in the 15th century by renowned Gujarati poet, Narsinh Mehta in the Gujarati language.
The transliterated part:
One who is a devotee of Lord Vishnu, Knows the pain of others, Does good to others without letting pride enter his mind.
Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan, ‘Vaishnav jan to’, played in all his prayer meetings, was written by Narsinh Mehta, a poet-philosopher who too hailed from Gujarat and lived 400 years before Gandhi was born.
The nip in the air, the indistinct low-pitch chatters of the visitors, the squawking of parrots, the moaning of the squirrels, the devotional chorus by the children topped with the magical monologue of the charismatic charkha turned the ashram’s environ simply surreal.
I went on capturing, getting immersed in that extraordinary moment and literally went with the flow of the Sabarmati Riverfront that flowed past like the subtle sweep of a painter’s brush.
Some of the amazing six word photo story weavers:
Jason| Anne| Dennett| Rodrigo| pockett dessert| Allisonn| Vidya| Dr. Preeti| Sandi| Mary| Jillian| Erika| Penny| Hollie| Jennifer| arun| David| Shubha| Rhonda| kasey
Hearty thanks Mary & your SWPSC team for such a lovely space and for the amazing March prompt ❤
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