|
SLICE OF HISTORY
They say after Gandhi got thrown out of a train at Peitermartizburg station, colonialism was never the same again. Consulting Editor Vishal Bhatia's lens puts ground zero through the freeze frame
|
|
|
|
|
|
PICTURE PERFECT:
Peitermaritzburg is a very colonial town and extremely pretty. The train station is a quaint Victorian era station. This town has come to be associated with M.K.Gandhi; his posters, photos and plaques are everywhere
|
|
|
FAMOUS ADDRESS:
Sarvodaya, the house in North Durban where Gandhi spent his days in South Africa. When broken down for renovation in 1985, most of Gandhiji’s items were stolen, or burnt
|
|
PLATFORM FOR SATYAGRAHA:
M.K. Gandhi was pushed out of his compartment on to this platform while travelling on a train from Durban to Johanessburg on a wintry South African day. The date: June 7, 1893. The provocation: a white traveller refused to share space with a ‘Coolie’. The incident sparked off Gandhiji’s philosophy of Satyagraha.
|
|
|
NEW KIDS OFF THE BLOCK: Gandhiji’s wife, Kasturba, ran a school for poor black kids. The complex was razed, kids in the new school are seen; (at left) a plaque at the Peitermaritzburg station where Gandhi was thrown out of a train
|
|
TOLSTOY FARM: The farm on which Sarvodaya—Gandhiji’s house is built—is not a safe place to visit these days. Bhatia took a chance with a local guide
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
|
April 2006
|
|
|
|
|
|
