Students of Ramjas School, Pusa Road, take the heritage walk conducted by The Indian Express at the National Gandhi Museum near Rajghat

A schools’ initiative from The Express Group
Quest is a project conducted by The Indian Express in schools in and around Delhi. It covers more than 50 schools in Delhi and NCR.

Quest aims at stirring awareness and opinions. Today, when all that children see are shopping malls and cineplexes, we at The Indian Express want to show a completely different picture of this city to them. Delhi has changed beyond nostalgia and recognition since Independence. How many of these kids know of the ‘Seven Cities’ of Delhi or the stories of the pigeon fliers of Old Delhi?

The idea behind such an activity is to create awareness about the various structures and monuments that the students do not know about. This is a specially designed programme, which will help the students appreciate the rich culture and background of this city. In association with INTACH and ASI, this is a small effort on our behalf to depict a phase of our national life and the decay of a whole culture, a particular mode of thought and living. The visit is followed by the students sending in articles, pictures, poems, paintings, and collages to express their experiences about the heritage walk.

A journey through his life
“My life is my message.” We read the famous quote by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as we entered the National Gandhi Museum, a two storied building near Gandhi Samadhi at Rajghat. I was thrilled to know the facts about this great man. In the exhibition hall, Gandhiji’s pictures at the age of seven at Porbandar, Gujarat, are displayed. His pictures as a law student and that of his early years of legal practice are also there. One cannot make out whose pictures are these. We were shown a movie on Gandhiji’s life and his struggle for freedom. I was greatly moved by it. The museum also has a beautiful sculpture of Gandhiji made from plaster of paris; it was breathtaking. One can also listen to the recorded voice of Gandhiji both in English and in Hindi. We also saw the Charkha Gallery which has raw materials, small tools and other items used for spinning the charkha. Traditional charkhas made of bamboo and from places like Punjab, Gujarat, Bihar etc. are preserved in the museum. Gandhiji’s life has been carefully captured in 300 photographs.

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