Bapu's tryst with Delhi

Gandhiji and Delhi had a very close relationship that started in 1915 when he came here for the first time. In his maiden visit to capital, Gandhi ji stayed at the residence of Sushil Kumar Rudra, the then Principal of St.Stephans College from April 13-15, 1915.

A photograph recording this visit of the Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi currently hangs in the Principal`s office of college. During that trip, Bapu also visited the Gali Qasim Jaan house of Hakim Ajmal Khan and also visited Qutub Minar with him.

Bapu’s last 144 days were spent in the home of noted industrialist and his close friend GD Birla at 5 Albuquerque Road ( now 5,Tees January Marg ). It was here that he falls to the senseless bullets of Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948.

Birla house where Bapu was assassinated was acquired by the Government in 1971 and opened for the public on August 15, 1973. The museum in the building houses a number of articles associated with Gandhi`s life and death. Mahatma Gandhi had lived in this house from September 9,1947 to January 30,1948. Thus, the hallowed house treasures many memories of the last days of his epic life.

The room where Mahatma Gandhi lived and the prayer ground where he held a mass congregation every evening has not been changed at all. The building and the landscape have been preserved as they were in those days. Interestingly when Bapu was staying at Birla house, his son Devdas Gandhi, used to stay at Connaught Place. He was then the editor of Hindustan Times. At the Birla House, Abha and Manu, the two girlsMahatma Gandhi used to lean on while walking also stayed. Bapu used to call Abha and Manu his walking sticks. Abha also served as time-keeper for Gandhi six years till his death, looking at his pocket-watch all the time so that he kept his appointments on schedule.

An important job that because he was a stickler for punctuality. Almost all the top leaders of freedom movement ass well as commoners used to meet Bapu there. If you ever happen to visit Birla house despite your busy schedules, you would feel a serene and sacred atmosphere there. Somehow one gets the impression that he would emerge from somewhere. Presently there on display are photographs, sculptures, paintings, frescos, inscriptions on rocks and relics pertaining to the years Mahatma Gandhi spent here. The humble personal effects of Gandhiji too are carefully preserved.

A larger than life statue of Mahatma Gandhi, with a boy and a girl holding a dove in their hands standing on either side, emerging out of the globe, symbolizing his universal concern for the poor and the deprived, welcomes the visitor at the main entrance of the Birla house. It is the work of the renowned sculptor Ram Sutar.

A Martyr`s Column stands at the spot where the Father of the Nation was assassinated, commemorating the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi as the embodiment of all the sufferings and sacrifices that characterized the long struggle for India`s Freedom.

Actually, Mahatma Gandhi stayed for extended periods at three different places in Delhi-at Birla House, before that, at the Valmiki Mandir on Mandir Marg in Central Delhi, next to St. Thomas School and, much before that, at the Harijan Ashram at Kingsway Camp in North Delhi.

In Valmiki temple on Mandir Marg, Bapu chose to stay from April 1, 1946 to June 1,1947.

In hall, you can still see charkha, Bapu’s writing desk, adorned with fresh marigolds and a wooden pen holder.

And at Harijan Sewak Sangh, Gandhiji spent a total of 105 days here, between 1934 and 1938.A plaque on the main wall of building reads “Ba Kutir” because; Kasturba lived on the ground floor and Gandhi on the first.

There is a stone bathtub in the unkempt front yard, half buried in the ground. This bathtub was used by Gandhiji,” says an employee of the Harijan sewak samaj.

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