|
Rewind
to Gandhian era
Efs
 Pune:
As Shobhana Ranade walks
about the palatial premises of the Aga Khan Palace on the eve of
Gandhi Jayanti, she marvels at the significance of the structure
where Mahatama Gandhi was interned during the Quit India Movement,
alongwith his wife Kasturba and secretary Mahadeo Desai. ‘‘Gandhiji
had made three predictions for The Aga Khan Palace in his writings.
One, that this would become a place of pilgrimage. Today about 300
visitors including foreigners visit daily. Secondly he had said that
the Aga Khan will donate this palace to the nation. This also
happened in 1969 when the world was celebrating Gandhi Centenary,’’
smiles the trustee secretary, Gandhi Memorial National Trust.
 Thirdly, states
79-year-old Ranade, Gandhi had said, the place would work for the
emancipation of women - because Kasturba’s samadhi was there.
‘‘My association with
The Aga Khan Palace started in 1979,’’ she reveals. ‘‘I was with
Acharya Vinoba Bhave at Pavnar Ashram. Many eminent Gandhians were
there in a meeting discussing the development of the
Aga
Khan Palace
at Pune - Vinobaji called me in the meeting and introduced me and
said, ‘She has returned from Assam
and now settled in Pune. She will take care of the
Aga
Khan Palace. Before this meeting, I
had been to the palace only once,’’ states Ranade who has since been
coming to the palace almost everyday.
‘‘During the internment
, Gandhiji lost his two dear ones - Mahadev Desai passed away on
August 15,
1942 and Kasturba breathed
her last on February 22,
1944. Gandhiji had built
their samadhis with his own hands using mud and dung. When The Aga
Khan donated the Palace in 1969, he marbled the samadhis before
handing over. Sir Richard Attenborough shot for Gandhi on the
campus. Rohini Hattangadi played Kasturba and spent hours at
Kasturba’s samadhi.’’
Despairing over the days
when the palace started deteriorating due to neglect from the
government, Ranade is happy with it now being declared as a
protected national monument. ‘‘This will ensure that it will receive
the attention and upkeep it deserves,’’ she
says. | 
