I awoke in the morning feeling very enthusiastic about my plans for the day which were to go to Sabarmati Ashram where Gandhi lived for several years. I got ready to leave the hotel when I was told that because of a rally all the city streets were closed to traffic. Why is that surprising? After all, I am in Gujarat, a state in which ethnic unrest is not uncommon. This day marks two significant events – the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition several years ago when a Muslim mosque was demolished in Ayodhya; and it is also the death anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar, India’s champion for the downtrodden scheduled castes and untouchables.
It’s intriguing that here I am in a city where Gandhi lived and spread his message of peace for about 15 years and yet the place is marked by the violence of riots, rallies, and deep-rooted discrimination. Gandhi’s influence, though secular and tolerant, inadvertently resulted in an intense feeling of nationalism; and although he stood for non-violence much violence does occur in the name of his teachings. Thus Ahmedabad, when it should have been a serene and peace-loving city, often morphs into a volatile space where the streets are deserted and dead, like the calm before a storm, and the only movement on the curfewed streets is the occasional police car rolling by surreptitiously before all hell breaks loose and arrests are made...
It's been long since I have had this experience of not being in control of time and yet feeling a sense of relief in not having to go through a series of schedules: just being and flowing on the currents of time as it passes me by in this hotel lobby where I hear snatches of Gujarati conversation interspersed with piped English music. We, the people in the lobby, busy ourselves with what we can do: I write in my journal and the hotel staff dust, arrange, and re-dust the furniture in the lobby…Sometimes I must surrender to forces that blow in unannounced from out of nowhere, learn to be patient, and learn how to let go of plans. There is an old Sanskrit saying: Welcome what comes and let go of what goes. Interestingly, this attitude would be viewed as rather slack in the Euro-American West where, in a cultural worldview based upon efficiency, punctuality, staying on schedule and meeting deadlines this can be a challenging expectation.
The Sabarmati ashram or Gandhi ashram or Satyagraha ashram - three different names but one space where Gandhi’s memory and his spirit still live on and his voice still echoes in the words of the slogans posted in the museum and in the imagination of those who want to hear him. There is profound silence and peace to be found in the compound as I move from his meditation grounds on the banks of the Sabarmati River, toward his house, and to Vinoba kutir. It is like going back in time, back in history, and being able to imagine and sense the political climate within which my grandparents and parents grew up…
Ahmedabad is an amazing city –colorful and textured. There are so many layers superimposed over each other: symbols of play over symbols of worship over symbols of sustenance and entertainment, poverty and urbanity, stillness and unrest…
