Mani Bhavan Gandhi Museum, Mumbai (must see)

Located in the Gamdevi precinct, on Laburnum Road in Mumbai, is a two-storied building which was the epicentre for several movements during India’s independence fight, Mani Bhavan. Initially owned by Shri Revashankar Jagjeevan Jhaveri, this historic old-style building was taken over by Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, a National Trust in memory of Mahatma Gandhi, in 1955 to preserve it as a veritable memoir of the father of modern India. A museum, picture gallery, the Library and the Terrace together draw an almost complete picture of the independence struggle as well as the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

For a period of 17 years (1917-1934), the Bhavan served as Gandhi’s Mumbai headquarters and some of the movements crucial to Indian history like the Satyagraha, Swadeshi, Civil Disobedience etc. were initiated here.

The museum captures and portrays Gandhi’s dynamic personality and life through 28 tableaux of dioramas prepared by Sushila Gokhale Patel, along with models of Sabarmati ashram, Phoenix ashram, etc. The gallery also has preserves copies of letters written to Franklin D Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler along with documents and articles written about and by Gandhi, appropriately captioned in both Hindi and English.

A room in the Bhavan on the second floor was formerly the work place for the Mahatma and has been preserved closest to the original setting. Gandhi’s association with the charkha began in this Bhavan and the auditorium plays recordings of Gandhi’s speeches. For historians and biographers, Mani Bhavan is a treasure chest of knowledge.