Recently I happened to go to Gandhi Bhavan to cover an event. It was only a couple of months ago that I heard that Bangalore has something called the Gandhi Bhavan but had no idea where it was located. Neither did my father when I asked him how to get there (we all expect dads to know everything, don’t we?).
It’s unfortunate that on Kumarakrupa Road, Chitra Kala Parishad (CKP), Sindhi High School or even the Janata Dal office are the only names that come up but never Gandhi Bhavan which is right next to CKP and opposite Sindhi High School. The building has now been extended to house the Khadi and Village Industries institution.
Gandhi Bhavan was inaugurated on 8 December 1965 by the then President of India Dr. S Radhakrishnan
It was set up by the Karnataka Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, an autonomous state body for furthering the objective of perpetuating the memory and message of Gandhiji to coming generations
A board at the entrance of Gandhi Bhavan
The Gandhian Library
There is a Publications section at the Bhavan which has published over 50 titles in Kannada, most of which are edited and translated writings of Gandhiji
There were quite a few senior citizens who were reading newspapers here in the morning
The Reading Room
Gandhi believed that at the core of every religion was truth and love
Gandhi Picture Gallery
It was locked at the time, this is a view through the window
Gandhiji’s sayings (some translated in Kannada as well) are seen on the walls at the Bhavan
This board explains when and why Gandhi was imprisoned at various times during the freedom struggle. He spent a total of 2089 days in prison
Gandhi Smarak Nidhi was started as a National trust in 1949 after the death of Gandhiji. The main purpose was to carry forward Gandhi’s work
The Government of Karnataka granted the site adjacent to the Kumarakrupa guest house (where Gandhi stayed during his visit to the old Mysore state in 1927), permanently to the Nidhi in 1988
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