Typing Test

10:00

On a scorching Friday afternoon, 64-year-old social worker Ramesh Asmar is among several visitors to the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial in Dandi, Gujarat. But Asmar has a special connection with the memorial, which stands at the site where Gandhi concluded the historical salt march in 1930."My grandfather Motiram Asmar was a staunch Gandhian. He joined Bapu on the march from Navsari to Dandi," says Asmar. He still has the China clay jar in which his grandfather brought back salt. "I was curious to see if my grandfather had been captured in any of the archival photographs at the memorial."The memorial is striking, but still in the making. Its hasty inauguration, in January this year, by the Prime Minister has upset many involved in the project. Some are unhappy with what they feel is shoddy civil work. But that hasn’t stopped people like Asmar from visiting. The memorial has seen a remarkable increase in footfall since it opened, sometimes going up to 30,000 on weekends.I walk along a pathway with 24 murals that depict the important interactions that Gandhi had at the 24 halts in the march. It leads to an area where life-size statues of the 80 marchers stand tall. At the centre is Gandhi, five metres tall, overlooking a lake. The statue stands between two giant pillars, 40 metres high, that hold up an illuminated glass cube. The 2-tonne cube symbolises a single salt crystal while the V-shaped pillars symbolise Gandhi’s hands. And after sunset, the salt crystal comes alive with laser lights. Walking out, I find myself on a pathway lined with solar panels shaped like trees. It leads to an area where visitors can make their own salt and carry it back as a souvenir. "The experience is incomplete without making the salt," says Tushar Gandhi, member of the High-Level Dandi Memorial Committee (HLDMC).Essentially, a visitor to the memorial relives history. On March 12, 1930, Gandhi set out on a 241 mile journey along with 80 satyagrahis. He concluded the 24-day march in Dandi village, and on April 6, picked up a handful of salt, thus breaking the salt law. The simple act shook the British Empire and sowed the seeds for the freedom struggle."It’s a unique memorial, created with people’s participation. IIT-Bombay was appointed as a nodal agency for design and technology for the first time," says Gandhi, a great-grandson of the Mahatma. On a scorching Friday afternoon, 64-year-old social worker Ramesh Asmar is among several visitors to the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial in Dandi, Gujarat. But Asmar has a special connection with the memorial, which stands at the site where Gandhi concluded the historical salt march in 1930."My grandfather Motiram Asmar was a staunch Gandhian. He joined Bapu on the march from Navsari to Dandi," says Asmar. He still has the China clay jar in which his grandfather brought back salt. "I was curious to see if my grandfather had been captured in any of the archival photographs at the memorial."The memorial is striking, but still in the making. Its hasty inauguration, in January this year, by the Prime Minister has upset many involved in the project. Some are unhappy with what they feel is shoddy civil work. But that hasn’t stopped people like Asmar from visiting. The memorial has seen a remarkable increase in footfall since it opened, sometimes going up to 30,000 on weekends.I walk along a pathway with 24 murals that depict the important interactions that Gandhi had at the 24 halts in the march. It leads to an area where life-size statues of the 80 marchers stand tall. At the centre is Gandhi, five metres tall, overlooking a lake. The statue stands between two giant pillars, 40 metres high, that hold up an illuminated glass cube. The 2-tonne cube symbolises a single salt crystal while the V-shaped pillars symbolise Gandhi’s hands. And after sunset, the salt crystal comes alive with laser lights. Walking out, I find myself on a pathway lined with solar panels shaped like trees. It leads to an area where vis