Gandhiji

The space where Gandhi had his last meeting before he was assassinated on his way to prayers. He lived as simply and unencumbered as possible.

Imagine: this is all he left behind in material things, yet his legacy has been infinite.

He was a prolific writer, these are a few of the books he wrote.

Khadi items are hand-made and sold at Gandhi Smitri.

Hey Audrey!

Audrey, I know that you were also a great campaigner for human rights, and liked to help people in need, for example in the work you did for Unicef. So, I'm sure you'll agree with me that Mahatma Ghandi was an insanely cool person.  I visited the Ghandi Smitri in New Delhi, the house where he lived the last days of his life and where he was assassinated in 1948. Here I learnt how strongly he believed in non-violence, in truth, in religious tolerance and economic self-reliance. He used methods of non-violent civil obedience to lead India to independance from British rule.  He was a vegetarian and only wore khadi clothing. This is clothing made from hand spun and hand woven cloth. He believed supporting this trade would uplift the poor, many of whose livelihood depended on spinning and weaving. He said: "Economics that hurt the moral well-being of an individual or a nation are immoral and therefore sinful. Thus the economics that permit one country to prey upon another are immoral. It is sinful to buy and use articles made by sweated labour. It is sinful to eat American wheat and let my neighbour the grain-dealer starve for want of custom." Wise words, but not easy to live by. It's easier to forget that one had ever heard them.