Much has been written about Mahatma Gandhi but there are still many aspects of his life and personality that remain unknown. A 100 episode radio series “Khamoshi-ki-daastan” — each of three minutes — being aired by All India Radio’s FM Rainbow and FM Gold Network since January provides glimpses of rare moments of the statesman’s life after he returned from South Africa to Bombay in 1915. The series cover the subsequent year in Gandhi’s life when he was 45 years, three months and six days old. “The series was made to commemorate the 100th year of Gandhiji’s return to India. Moreover, the period of one year thereafter is the most poorly recorded time,” explains Madhuker Upadhyay, author and former editor, who researched, wrote and produced the programme besides narrating the events as Gandhi’s invisible travel companion. Elaborating the reasons for the poor recording he says, “Gandhi’s political guru, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, told him on arrival to use his first year back home to ‘observe and absorb’, study the society and not to speak on political issues. The second reason was that the ongoing World War I was the focus of all news reports. Lastly, even though some people in India knew about Gandhi and his work in South Africa, he was still not known to general masses.”
Gandhi during that one year travelled widely meeting common people. Among thewell-known figures he met were Gokhale, Ferozeshah Mehta, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Rabindranath Tagore, Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak. One episode informs listeners that the first meeting between Tagore and Gandhicould not take place as scheduled. Interestingly when they met after a year the former asked the latter to sit beside him. Gandhi chose to sit with others on the bench with Tagore too joining him.
“The show presents the human side of Gandhi’s personality to a generation which does not know about him or how he became a great leader. I think 1915 was a crucial year in his life. He did not speak on political issues but touched upon untouchability, filth, garbage, importance of cleanliness, education, educational reforms, on the necessity of an inclusive society and on Hindu-Muslim unity,” revealsUpadhyay. The leader had remarked that the responsibility of keeping the society together lies with the majority which is crucial in today’s context. Making a pertinent point the producer says, “History is not just about big events but footnotes too which cannot be dismissed as trivia. These help in understanding a lot about a personality.”
The material for the show has been gathered through Upadhyay’s research stretching over the last 10 years for his books and articles. Gandhi’s diary provided sketchy details but his letters, speeches, books and of course newspapers reports and ironically the police department’s intelligence reports filled the gap. Three newspapers covered Gandhi extensively, namely, Amrita Bazaar Patrika , Bombay Chronicle and The Hindu . Gandhi’s visit to Madras in April 17, 1915 in the series, including his buggy being drawn by young men all the way to the Chetty Street is based on The Hindu reportage. The letters exchanged by the leader proved to be a goldmine of information. One written by the Mahatma to a Shastrigal highlights the opposition from people in and around the ashram when a person from backward community was made an inmate of the ashram. “Kasturba led the protest for ashram members but Gandhi told her sternly that his decision was irrevocable and that she could leave if she desired.”
Gandhi adhered to Gokhale’s embargo even after his mentor passed away and observed at its end that India had changed since his last visit in 1900 and that it was looking for a change. Besides he realised that India was not close-knit like South Africa and that there were sharp divisions based on caste and religion.
Interesting details like Gandhi arrived on Saturday on a half moon day make the series fascinating. Though the programme hasn’t been publicised much, the five set CDs each comprising 20 episodes is a good idea to disseminate more information about Gandhi’s formative years in India.
