Walk into the serene premises of Aga Khan Palace at 8.30 in the morning and what greets you is the lush greenery around and peaceful ambiance that pervades the air. Add to that the sounds of prayer that fill the atmosphere and there is no mistaking the feeling of the Mahatma’s presence in the place where he spent so many years during the freedom struggle.

The morning prayer sessions at the samadhi at Aga Khan Palace is a daily event that has been on since decades. The collective chant of Prem mudit man se kaho Ram Ram Ram reverberates in the surroundings and joining in the chorus are voices of the young and the old, all bound together with a common devotion to the Father of the Nation and his principals.

While Hindi Cinema resorted to new age ‘Gandhigiri’ to bring back the values of Gandhi wrapped in a more modern context, there are a few who still preach and practice the way the legend propounded them.

“We have morning prayer at the samadhi of Kasturba Gandhi and Mahadev Desai, which is attended by our members, trainees and also outsiders, who believe in Gandhi and his principles,” says Sobha Supekar, assistant secretary, Gandhi National Memorial Society (GNMS). She adds that without any advertisement or compulsion, the prayer session registers a huge crowd from within the organisation and outside and the number goes up threefold on October 2, when people come to pay their tribute to the great leader.

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