Gandhi Journal Article-III ( November 2016 ) - Mahatma Gandhi and The Polaks

Gandhi Journal Article-III ( November 2016 ) 

Mahatma Gandhi and The Polaks

By Prabha Ravi Shankar 

South Africa was the crucible that forged Gandhi's identity as a political activist. it was an important prelude to his return to his motherland in 1915 where he dominated the national movement for more than two decades. Amongst the early and closest friends of Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, now largely forgotten, were an English couple named Henry Polak and Millie Polak. Henry zoos a radical English Jew, Millie was a Christian feminist. Polak was Gandhi's closest political aide and fellow-seeker. Even after their return to England in 1916, the Polaks continued to take much interest in India's future and kept a close association with Gandhi until the latter's death in 1948. Despite his yeomen services to India and close relationship with Gandhi, there is no in-depth study on Gandhi and Polak. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap.

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Virtual Gandhi in South Africa : New online resource lets you trace the footsteps of an icon

Virtual Gandhi in SA: New online resource lets you trace the footsteps of an icon

Mahatma Gandhi’s time spent in South Africa was a significant period in the history of the country. Tourism South Africa is offering locals and tourists the chance to virtually follow in Gandhi’s footsteps through a new website called Gandhi in South Africa (www.gandhi.southafrica.net).

Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 as a young lawyer in his early 20s and remained for 21 years before leaving 1914 to take on British rule in India.

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The The village that was his kingdom

The The village that was his kingdom

'I am trying to become a villager," he (Gandhi) wrote on 6 July 1936 to Henry Polak, his friend and associate of South African days. "The place where I am writing this (letter) has a population of 600 - no roads, no post-office, no shop."

The move to Sevagram was the culmination of a chain of events which even Gandhi's closest colleagues had not anticipated; it also contained a message which is no less relevant today than it was in Gandhi's lifetime. 

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