Chattu, Jyo and I went on our morning walk at 645 am, walked all around the race course road which is blocked off for walkers in the mornings so hundreds of people walk. Make the bough green and the songbird will come they say - create the facilities and the desired actions will happen. Along the road I saw that a small ledge was made for people to sit which is such a nice, people-friendly idea - most places I see are about discouraging people from any kind of leisure. Rajkot scores heavily there - the government seems to be very people-friendly which can seen in all these measures.
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| The ledge to sit |
On the way back after our 5 kms walk we stopped at the sweet shop where Jyo wanted to try some morning snack and we parked on the ledge near the Satya Vijay ice cream shop and snacked a bit before heading back to our hotel.
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| Chattu and Jyo walking ahead - looks like COVID marking on the road |
Having freshened up at the hotel Jyo and I decided to head to the Dolls Exhibition which was shut being a Monday so we decided to go to Kaba Gandhi No Delo. 'Kaba Gandhi No Delo' translates into Kaba Gandhi's house. Karamchand Gandhi was known as Kaba Gandhi and he moved from Porbandar to Rajkot to serve as the Dewan in the court of the king. He was granted 400 sq yards upon which he built his house and in 1881 the family moved into it. Until then, from 1876, Mohandas Gandhi, a seven year old, and the rest of the family lived in a rented house. Though Karamchand Gandhi passed away in 1885, the family continued to live there until 1915. It was bought back by the government from the owner and converted into a museum which is maintained by the Gandhi Smriti Trust.
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| Kaba Gandhi No Delo |
The walk from our hotel to the Kaba Gandhi No Delo was about 15 minutes and we soon realised that it was located in the middle of cramped shops, much like General Bazaar in Secunderabad. Cars cannot go there and one pretty much has to walk from the main road. The house itself is beautifully maintained and there is a permanent exhibition there called Gandhi Smriti which lots of rare photographs of Gandhiji in his early years and later years.
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| A corridor at the back end of the house |
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| Courtyard inside - over the arch was where Gandhiji's room was originally |
One gentleman named Jolly Singh took us around the house and explained various things - the kitchen which was outside, Gandhiji's room which was over the entrance now converted into a balcony, an office, a reading room, verandahs. The architectural style is so subtle and complete, the doors and windows so well made that we admired the craft so much. Jolly also took some pictures of us in some nice places that he chose for us.
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| The house is located in this neighbourhood - Dharmendr Road |
There is no entrance fee. When we went we were the only people there and as we left a few more people landed up. It really felt surreal to be in the house that Gandhiji lived. So glad we made it there.
As a tribute to Gandhiji I have decided to give up non-veg for the rest of the tour!
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