14. Ashram - 1

In old days Ahmedabad was the capital of Gujarat. Gandhiji's Ashram is on the banks of Sabarmati river near this city.

Gandhiji lived in this Ashram with Kasturba and many other men, women and children.

Many of those people came from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Sindh, Madras (now Chennai) and Nepal also. There were Indians as well as foreigners and Chinese too.

All of them wore Khadi and regularly spinned yarn. They used to get up at 4 O' clock in the morning and would get together for prayer. They would also pray in the evening. They used to recite Shlokas there. Panditji used to teach them bhajans. They used to sing those bhajans along with chanting of Ram naam. They also used to recite Gita regularly. Then Gandhiji would deliver a sermon after the prayer.

All the people living in the Ashram used to dine in the same mess. The food did not contain much of masala (seasoning) but it used to be clean and fresh.

At a fixed time, all of them used to sit together recite hymns for peace and then take the meal. Many a times, Gandhiji himself would serve them. Harijans (the untouchables) also lived in the Ashram along with all others. They used to work in the kitchen with others and ate there too.

People in the Ashram used to be very careful about cleanliness. They won't spit anywhere, won't throw pieces of paper, won't throw leftover food and won't urinate just anywhere.

The inmates of the Ashram never used the jungle as their toilet. They would prepare a small, clean airy room as their toilet and would cover the faeces with soil. They used to clean this toilet themselves. The soil was then used as manure in their vegetable garden.