For most of his adult life, Gandhi weighed around 100 pounds. He was five-feet-five-inches tall and his photographs give an impression of frailty. But nothing could be further from the truth. All his life, he kept a gruelling schedule. He travelled incessantly, criss-crossing the country on train and foot.
He had an amazing capacity to walk and achieved much by walking for miles and connecting with the common man and woman on the ground.
The Historic Dandi march spanned 240 miles (390 km), from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, which was called Navsari at that time (now in the state of Gujarat). Growing numbers of Indians joined them along the way and at one time the crowd was 3 kms long.
His lathi or walking stick, akin to a trekking pole played a very important role in the march. On 12th March 1930 as Gandhi set out on his historic March to challenge the salt tax, a colleague and friend Kaka Kelekar thought a walking stick might come in handy. This lathi became famous as he walked it with it 10 miles a day, for 24 days. It was a simple bamboo pole 54 inches high from the Malnad region Of Karnataka and made from Nagara Bhetta, a variety of cane where every knot was marked by a natural black spot.
Gandhi’s foot march to Noakhali and Tipperah districts in Bengal , from November 1946 to February 1947, where he appealed for peace in the aftermath of communal violence is also an amazing exercise of persistence and tenacity . He visited riot torn villages by walking on waterlogged roads and narrow and slippery paths strewn with night soil, deliberately thrown by anti social elements who did not want him to visit. But at 77 years of age, he was determined. He walked barefoot, sleeping every night in a different village, taxing his body even more, as if challenging rioters and his critics to do their maximum, but it would not deter him in his efforts to restore peace.
He was a pioneer in choosing sustainable modes of travel and had very early in his life realised the benefits of walking on the body. While studying law in England (1888-91), he initially stayed as a tenant with an English family. But finding himself short of money, he decided to cut his expenses by half. He took independent rooms of his own, selected so that he could walk to his workplace in half an hour. This allowed him to not only keep his expenses under control but also maintain his health and remain free from illness in England. When he came to Bombay after his stint in London, he lived in Girgaum. He would walk to the High Court, which took him 45 minutes, and return on foot as well.
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will” said Gandhi and for a trekker there could be no truer statement.
So well written Priya and very well researched too. Did not know these finer details.
ReplyDeleteThank you Shobha. Do share this post with friends who may be interested
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