The Fort Cochin beach has had its moments in history. In 1928 during the height of the struggle for Indian Independence, local luminaries of the Indian National Congress brought Mahatma Gandhi here. The Fort Cochin municipality had declared the town as ‘dry’. All toddy and arrack shops were closed down. Gandhi could not refuse an invitation for such a social cause and in spite of his busy schedule he made it.
Gandhi addressed a mammoth gathering at the beach. The local English administrators arranged for their Westland Wapiti fighter aircraft based at Cochin to fly low over the crowd and also perform aerobatics in a bid to distract attention and drone out the voice of ‘the half naked fakir’ as the English press had called him.
Gandhi ignored the planes overhead, raised his voice and began — ‘Cochin is the epitome of adventure...........’. The thin little man punched the air and concluded to tumultuous ovation, with the most famous line of the Indian Independence movement — ‘Freedom is our birthright and we shall have it. Jai Hind!’
The flying club at Cochin was later upgraded to form one of five Indian Air Force Voluntary Reserve bases in the country. Sometime later this was disbanded and relocated at Tiruchirrapalli.
His visit to Cochin acted as a catalyst to Cochin’s own freedom fighters and many of its rank and file courted arrest. Gandhi’s charisma had converted many more to the cause and in Cochin the struggle for Independence received a fresh impetus. There were many who donated a sizeable portion of their belongings to Gandhiji to be used for the freedom movement. All along the Malabar Coast volunteers joined in the Salt Satyagraha call by Gandhi.
Gandhi went from there to Coimbatore on a car taken on hire from Kumar Taxis and was driven by my classmate Stalin’s father Joseph Miranda. Gandhi chatted with him throughout the journey. Joseph Miranda recalled that Gandhiji was distressed that some of his fellow freedom fighters were advocating the use of force to oust the English from India.
“I don’t want a single drop of blood, whether theirs or ours, to be shed. We must get our freedom without bloodshed,” Gandhi had said.
The taxi fare had been paid for in advance but Gandhi felt that he should tip Miranda for the excellent manner in which he had driven.
Gandhi told Miranda, “I am the poorest man in India. I don’t have any money to give you but please take this as a small token of my appreciation of your driving.” With that he pressed a silver one rupee coin into Miranda’s fist.
He bid goodbye and walked, as he always did — speedily, to join his followers.
Ironically, the car belonged to the leading English shipping and trading company of the time, Pierce Leslie, and was a made in England Overland Whippet.
Miranda treasured the rupee coin for posterity, but what he really cherished was the priceless few hours he had the good fortune to spend with one of the greatest humans to have walked the earth. We wanted to see the coin, but Stalin was not allowed to bring it to class. We went to his house and were shown the coin, placed in a jewel box with the date on it.