A poetic tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, on his birth anniversary by Dr Roopali, exclusively for Different Truths.

In the bustling hurried, harried
the city called Ahmedabad in Gujarat
stands a quiet, serene, and tranquil place.
 
Here where the river Sabarmati flows quietly
This is a place of Peace
A peace that “passeth understanding”. 
 
From this place called the Sabarmati Ashram they 
walked 241 long miles away 
to Dandi.
They walked 24 blistering days till they reached the vast salt pits 
where the Arabian Sea quietly laps its sandy shores.
 
These men wore hand-spun clothes led by 
a thin bony man all bare-bodied.
A man we now call a Mahatma. 
It was for liberty alone that they were here
breaking the shackles of bondage.
 
They churned the salt of liberty.  
Liberty is the salt of life. 
Resisting with tranquillity, the wrath of violence,
The hammer of sticks rained on their bare backs.
They were truth marchers 
they were all Satyagrahis.
 
The exhausted hands of 
bloody violence pleaded for pardon 
and release and insane power fell silent 
before the might of Peace.
             
“Hail, lawbreaker” 
trilled the Nightingale of India
when an ordinary man called 
Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi 
bent and scooped a fistful of forbidden salt 
he performed an extraordinary act. 
 
In that sacred moment 
We, the people of India, claimed  
inalienable rights to humanity.
To Liberty and Peace.

Picture design by Anumita Roy, Different Truths

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur is a poet, travel writer, and social justice activist. A former professor of English Literature at Delhi University, and a creative writing professor at IGNOU, she is a widely published academic and creative writer. Her book Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature, is a seminal text on women’s socio-political empowerment. In 2020-21, she co-edited two poetry anthologies – In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry, and Earth Fire Water Wind.