KOCHI: On the eve of March 8, the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Kochi, the old-fashioned building located opposite to Mattancherry Gujarati School is being decked up.
Though battered with age, the house still summons vivid memories of Mahatma Gandhi, thanks to its resident Rahul N Asher and his family’s close association with Gandhiji.
Mahatma Gandhi’s second visit to Kochi, on March 8, 1925, was mainly for the sake of his mission in Vaikom, which aimed to open the road to the temple for all sections of Hindus in Kerala’s Travancore region. That day, he stayed in the house of Mathura Das Asher, a Gujarati, in Mattancherry.
Rahul, 66, is Mathura Das’s grandson. “My father told me about Gandhiji’s visit to our house and how he adopted my grandfather as a main disciple and tasked him with setting up an ashram and educational institution in Champaran, Bihar. Both my grandfather and grandmother took part in the freedom movement, and went to jail many times. Only in the final phase of his life, my grandfather returned to our house in Mattancherry. He passed away in 1972,” Rahul told TNIE.
Locally known as Takku Bhai, Rahul runs various mercantile ships in the locality. His collection includes rare pictures of Mahatma Gandhi speaking at TD High school in Mattancherry, him posing with his aunt and uncle, his speeches in Vaikom and the hand-written letters Mahatma Gandhi wrote to his grandfather, besides newspaper cuttings that highlighted the family’s close ties with the ‘Father of the Nation’.
Rahul will flag off a ‘padayatra’ from Kamalakadavu, the main boat jetty of Fort Kochi where Gandhiji arrived on March 8, 1925. It was Mathura Das who translated his speeches, when Mahatma Gandhi addressed a huge gathering at a makeshift platform built on country boats at the Fort Kochi beachfront on the day.
Adorning the wall in the main room of the house is a picture of Mahatma Gandhi with Hira Ben, the wife of Mathura Das’s cousin.
“She is 100 and lives in Baroda,” Rahul said. Despite having lived all his life in Mattancherry, Rahul cannot read Malayalam though he can understand and speak it.
“My grandpa and grandma were with Mahatma Gandhi for a major portion of their lives. I’m very proud of them and their many struggles that finally resulted in India gaining independence from the British rule on August 15, 1947,” a beaming Rahul said.