Retracing Gandhi's footsteps in London

The world's very first 'Gandhi walk', tracing the Mahatma's footsteps in imperial London, where he studied, lobbied for and negotiated on Indian independence and ultimately developed the liberating concept of walkathon-as-satyagraha, is newly launched with its creator and sponsor vowing to put Bapu's London "on the map".

The 'Gandhi walk' is the first time an India-themed ramble is on offer in London, where 'Jack the Ripper', Shakespeare, Beatles and Thames trails are among the dozens of walks that have delighted tourists over decades.

The gap in the rambling along London's Indian history trail has been plugged by Ajay Goyal, a wealthy investor in European media and Hollywood, who left his native Kurukshetra 20 years ago. He describes himself as "fascinated" with the Mahatma and fixated on giving "my city, London, the chance to discover something more authentically Indian in it than curry houses, balti and bhangra".

The walk, which travels through the Mahatma's former haunts in the great beating heart of the once-mighty British empire, is a paid tour of the places he lived, ate in and walked.

Starting at an underground train station near Inner Temple, where Gandhi was called to the bar, the walk turns to Kensington, where he once lived; Notting Hill where he joined the Theosophists; Bayswater, where he went to church meetings and Covent Garden.

Goyal, who has invested Å“5,000 in conceiving, researching and laying on the Å“6-per-head walk without hoping for any profit over the next few years, told TOI about motivation: "I've always thought it fascinating that the minds of our ( India's) greatest leaders were formed here in London and yet, London hardly commemorates this.

But there's another thing. When one gets homesick you look for something that is yours, something Indian. Not food, nor film, nor Hindi film music. London's Indian connections and history is what I've found and want to share with others."

He says the walk is also meant to make an Indian claim of a sort on London. "I'm a Londoner now," says Goyal, "This is my London too. This is our city from where we (India) were ruled for more than 200 years. There is an Indian soul to London. Rabindranath Tagore, Nehru, Gandhi, all lived and learnt here."

But the new Gandhi trail also underlines another crucial, if barely-recognised reality. Had the Mahatma not lived in London , perhaps he might never have developed a taste for walking. "Gandhi often walked eight miles a day around London," explained Goyal.

This was later to metamorphose into the satyagraha movement, one of the greatest peaceful acts of defiance against colonial rule, culminating in his legendary 241-mile trek at the age of 61, to defy Britain's oppressive salt laws.

Now, in a strange twist of fate, the former imperial capital's chief administrator, mayor Ken Livingstone, has stamped his seal of approval on the "Gandhi's London" walk. Goyal's brainwave has been included in Livingstone's forthcoming 'India Now' celebration.

Gandhi's walking habit was captured in Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning film when the Mahatma jocularly told a journalist, "I am Walker".

Now, for "ordinary tourists in London" Goyal's identified clientele there is a chance to repeat the Mahatma's words with total sincerity.

The Times of India