From Gandhi to Mahatma: Documenting Bapu’s journeys by train

The spark for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to become the Mahatma was lit at the Pietermaritzburg railway station in South Africa on June 7, 1893 and the moment was etched in history when he was evicted from a first-class train compartment leading to the birth of Satyagraha. Despite that experience, he appeared to nurse a lifelong fondness for trains.

Now, the railways is set to observe Mahatma Gandhi's 152nd birth anniversary by making people aware of his attachment with trains.

This exercise will be apart from paying floral tribute to the Father of the Nation or carrying out cleanliness drives this Gandhi Jayanti.

The railways has directed all its zones, including North Eastern Railway (NER), North Central Railway (NCR) and Northern Railway (NR), to dig out all the archives related to Gandhi and his journeys to Uttar Pradesh via train. The three zones largely cover the entire Uttar Pradesh.

Besides, the railways has asked all the station masters and station superintendents to take out detailed records of the trains, which Gandhi boarded while spearheading multiple freedom movements in the country.

"We are looking for the archives. We are also looking for any (of) Gandhiji's journey related pictures in our photo section, which is one of the oldest photo sections," said Pankaj Singh, chief public relations officer (CPRO) of NER.

Sharing one such instance, Singh said Mahatma Gandhi had arrived at the Gorakhpur railway station on February 8, 1921 from Nagpur. As his train touched the station, the Mahatma de-boarded and received a warm welcome amid the roars of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".

"Gandhi soon came out of the station and addressed the gathering. During his address, people also donated money that was collected in a white cotton cloth sheet spread out before him. He appealed to the masses to maintain Hindu-Muslim unity and the farmers of Awadh region to observe non-violence," Singh said.

He further said that Gandhi then addressed another rally at Bale Miyan Ka Maidan in Gorakhpur and around 1.5 lakh attended. Late in the evening, Gandhi departed for Varanasi.

"We are still looking for some more information related to Mahatma Gandhi's visit to any of the stations in our jurisdiction," he added.

Northern Railway officials are also on the job. Lucknow's Charbagh railway station, too, had witnessed the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi about 105 years ago.

As per the record, on December 26, 1916, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru arrived at Lucknow railway station from Allahabad and met Mahatma Gandhi in front of the Charbagh railway station. The place where this historic meeting took place still bears a plaque and the history of Gandhi-Nehru park. However, the officials said that they are yet to find out by which train the duo reached the state capital.

Senior NCR officials said that, according to reports, Mahatma Gandhi's Zenith watch got stolen at Kanpur Central Station while he was onboard.

Officials said that according to the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, he wrote in a note dated May 28, 1947, about the theft at Kanpur railway station on May 25.

"I may add that it had a radium disc... and also a contrivance for alarm. It was a gift to me. The cost then was over ₹40. It was a Zenith watch," the Mahatma wrote.

The footnote further stated, "The reference is to Gandhiji's watch, a present from Indira Nehru, which he had been using for about 20 years, and which was stolen at Kanpur station on May 25."

Officials further said that the incident upset him. The thief felt remorse and returned it after six months. The officials are now trying to track more details.

Officials said once collected, the information would be made available in the public domain in order to make the present generation aware of Gandhi's journeys by train.