BENGALURU: It has been a century since Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha March and scholars and Gandhi enthusiasts in the city are celebrating this moment.
Jayprakash Sarda adds his bit to this commemoraton with his extensive and specially curated collection of several articles that chronicles Gandhi’s life. Sarda possesses Gandhian stamps, Indian and otherwise, about 250 original documents and about 8,000 newspaper articles on Gandhi prior to 1948. This collection is sourced from over 100 countries.
In philatelic and collector’s circles, people fondly associate with Sarda with Gandhi . He says, “People call me J P Gandhi because of my collection, I don’t refer to myself by that name.”
He also collects other rare articles that are closely connected with Gandhi – a Gandhian biscuit box from Great Britain dated 1931, pre-independence propaganda buttons and a Gandhian salt and pepper shaker from the early 1930s.
Sarda says, “The most exclusive item is the complete set of crockery that was handed out to dignitaries at the 1931 All India Congress session. It is the only piece in the world.”
He also has some rare volumes of Gandhian works. He has the first edition Mahatma Gandhi’series by B G Tendulkar with eight volumes which was published in March 1952. He also has the first edition copies of the 100 volumes of the completed works of Mahatma Gandhi. “These are extremely rare books. It is almost impossible to get all the volumes together today.”
Sarada believes that Gandhi’s contribution in the Indian freedom struggle is immense. “I collect for knowledge. We can learn so much from such collections. Besides Gandhi’s contributions, we rarely look into the contributions by individuals such as Subhas Chandra Bose,” he says.
Various government circulars from early Gandhian days to Gandhi’s death are part of his collection too. “An exclusive telegram from the Associated Press documents the trial of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.”
Sarda has won various awards for his efforts. “I think I have the best collection on Gandhi in the world,” he says proudly.