The Salt March
To protest against The Salt Act through Satyagraha* Gandhi planned to march with volunteers of the Sabarmati Ashram for 24 days south to Dandi – a coastal village with a natural depositary of salt. On the evening before their journey, thousands of people held an all-night vigil outside the Ashram there was apprehension that the colonial rulers would not allow Gandhi and his marchers to march, believing that he would be picked up in the dark of the night.
After a peaceful night as Gandhi slept on the vestibule of the Ashram, 80 volunteers set off with Gandhi on their first days march. They were encouraged by thousands of supporters, many joining in. A few kilometres along the road where they hoped to cross the Sabarmati but the bridge was already filled with supporters waiting in anticipation, so full the bridge was the marches were forced to climb down to the dry river bed of the Sabarmati, nearing the other bank just before reaching Delhi Gate – their entrance to the walled city of Ahmedabad. The marching made a sharp right hand turn as they were then funnelled into the narrow street of Ahmedabad. They were given a rousing send off by the citizens of Ahmedabad as thousands accompanied Gandhi and his marches on the day’s to come.
They marched ten miles a day covering 240 miles in total, in the evenings Gandhi would give speeches to the marchers and the villages they rested in. While they rested Gandhi would weave Khadi*. On the last day the marchers arrived in Dandi where they then entered the sea, Gandhi scooped up the salt laden mud and declared the act was broken.
*Satyagraha is a form of non-violent resistance developed by Gandhi during the Indian independence movement. In Gandhi’s own words it is described as holding onto truth
*Khadi is another form of protest against the British as they sought financial and material autonomy through the weaving of fabric.
Dandi Ground Condition
Dandi, the destination village of the Salt March was chosen because it was a natural depositary of salt. The salt forms through a cyclical change in the ground condition as wetness advances and recedes with the tide of the sea. As the remaining water evaporates a salty residue is left behind in the creeks. Not dissimilar to how the banks of the Sabarmati changed annually the daily change in the ground condition of Dandi creates a natural source of richness, wellness, and wetness. For pursuing the ground richness from Dandi to Ahmedabad, we aim to ground the metaphysical salt of Ahmedabad on the landscape of our architecture.
The Narrativity of Salt March
The Salt March is an event, that took root in Ahmedabad. It is a tale. As it is told to us through its witnesses, through the works of historians in the age when colonialism is seen as an opressive act. As architects, we ask questions, we are looking for the evidences and traces, “What shall we do with it? What is the architecture of the march? Is it made out of banners and shoutings, or, perhaps, can it also be architecture of peace?”. Perhaps, if we take one moment that we know took place in the Ashram the night before, we can start understanding the narratology of it -
Gandhi was sleeping on the terrace of the Ashram, the day before the Salt March, before the war started, being preparing for it for a long time. The dry air of Ahmedabad keeps blowing on a spring night. Sleeping in the open, surrounded by thousands of guards. The war hasn’t started yet, but the air is already polluted. The war of truth, delivered by the means of peace already caused the vibrations that reached the enemies. By that time Gandhi has already made the oath of the soldier, not to return home before India is independent. When the war is the one of truth, soldiers do not return until it is won. What does it feel to be in the open, yet surrounded by the walls of people? The walls that are about to be set in motion, the walls that expanded from then till 1947 when they finally enclosed the country with longed independence from Britain.
We have three binded objects, we have the hero, we have the event, that defines the narative (allows us to see what does and what does not belong to the story) and we have the place. The last one is of the main interest to us, as it is the clue, the trace that holds what is left of the materiality of the event. We don’t perceive the Ashram as a hut anymore. We don’t need to specify what we mean when we say Ashram to each other. We also can’t think of it without Gandhi or Satyagaha. Therefore, we have a presence of a ghost as we approach the place. We are haunted. The man, who once resided there is now our host, as we are strangers that came to find out about the other. The narrative also binds the scales together. We now think of ontology of Ahmedabad through narotology of the Ashram as much as we think of the Ashram through Ahmedabad. We start asking a new set of questions “Was it dusty, where Gandhi was sleeping on the night before the March? What did it smell like? Was it humid or cold? Could one see the smoke coming from the mills across the river when the sun risen?”