I’m having a hard time getting started on my post about the Gandhi Smriti and Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum. So many emotions surfaced during my visit to the place where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated; how can I harness them to write about it? Most brain-freezes will thaw with the making of a list, so here goes.
Things I Felt at the Museum
Awe – I knew Gandhi had been a powerful force in India, but I hadn’t realized how far-reaching – geographically and philosophically – his influence was. The museum features comments and film footage from esteemed world leaders in politics, education, science, social welfare and more – including Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Albert Einstein.
Grief – Seeing the movie or reading books about Gandhi cannot compare to standing in the spot where he was gunned down on his way to pray.
Fear – It seems too easy for the extremist minority to destroy the dreams of the moderate majority. This theme has played out so many times in history, and I worry that it’s happening today in the States.
Understanding – A somewhat cheesy collection of dioramas clarified the major events in Gandhi’s life. For example, he had been working as a lawyer in South Africa when authorities kicked him off a train for sitting in the “whites only” compartment. This, combined with other indignities he experienced there, was apparently a life-changing catalyst for him to embrace social activism.
Humility – A pair of simple sandals at the museum affected me deeply. Gandhi had made the sandals while in prison and presented them to Gen. Jan Smuts, an adversary who advocated racial segregation in South Africa. In 1939, when Smuts was Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, he returned the sandals in honor of Gandhi’s 70th birthday with the following message: “I have worn these sandals for many a summer, even though I may feel that I am not worthy to stand in the shoes of so great a man.”
Wonder – While I appreciated the old-school panels with photos and text, dioramas, and artifacts downstairs, I was unprepared for the cutting-edge fusion of technology, art and education that we encountered upstairs. According to the Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum’s brochure, the project’s tradition-based interactions with classical symbols, sacred objects, collaboratively created artworks, collective chanting and more “inspire a rich panorama of tactile interfaces that allow people to access the multimedia imagery and multidimensional mind of Gandhiji.”
I guess it would be fair to say I was a bit overwhelmed.
The Gandhi Smriti is housed in the Birla House, the former home of a New Delhi businessman where Gandhi spent the last few months of his life. “Smriti” is Sanskrit for “that which is remembered.” The house and gardens include footsteps to mark Gandhi’s last walk to prayer, the living quarters that have been untouched since his death in 1948, the diorama exhibit and many interpretive panels with hundreds of photos.
The Eternal Gandhi museum fills the second floor of the Birla House with amazing exhibits. Please visit the Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum website for details on the brilliant and powerful interactive displays. Here are some photos, but they really can’t capture the fascination inspired during my visit.
One installation offers scenes of Gandhi’s life in prison. During that time, he wrote his autobiography, which unfolds digitally in his own handwriting on the floor of the prison cell.
