Journey to Wardha still strikes a chord

The book was originally published in Kannada in 1939. It was translated into English by late Sharada Prasad, a scholar in both Kannada and English in the early fifties, when he was the News Editor of the Indian Express. Selected for a scholarship in the United States, and later offered a job in the Publications Division, and later as Information Advisor to Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, the manuscript remained among his papers till it was retrieved by his wife late Kamalamma, after his passing away in 2008.

The book gives us a glimpse of the life at Gandhiji's Ashram at Wardha, which was offered to the Mahatma by the Gandhian capitalist, Jamnalal Bajaj. Siddavanahalli Krishna Sharma, visits the place and tells us what happened when national leaders, like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, C. Rajagopalachari, Pattabhi Sitarammayya, Acharya Vinobha Bhave, Sushila Nayyar and foreign leaders visited Wardha, which became a place of pilgrimage to national leaders. Foreigners like Mirabehn, who was the daughter of a British admiral, gave up all comforts to join Mahatma Gandhi.

A keen observer, Krishna Sharma gives us an eye witness account of how Gandhiji's spent his day , assisted by his confidant Mahadev Desai , known to the country as his secretary.

Tirumale Tathacharya Sharma, who wrote the preface in 1939, stated that there were no books in Kannada which gave a glimpse of the Indian national movement, and this book was a boon for Kannadigas.

Late Sharada Prasad, who was a scholar in Kannada also, has retained the 'Kannada flavour' in the translation, and it is fitting that the Delhi Karnataka Sangha, has published it. It is a boon not only for Kannadigas, but for all who want to know about Gandhiji and the national movement. By I.