MAHATMA GANDHI AND GRAPHOLOGY

In France, graphology is a very important means of assessing the application of a future employee and determining his suitability for a job.   Standing in the quietness of the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, I studied this beautiful handwriting of Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)  and wondered what a Graphologist would make of it.  The calligraphy is flowing and confident - i's are dotted and then elegantly looped in attachment to the next word, the tails of y's are similarly looped up to the next word, as are the cross bars of the t's - the rhythm is a perfect balance between forward movement and a long pause. 

Gandhi was born in Gujarat and trained in Law at the Inner Temple in London.  After a stint in South Africa, where he formulated many of his ideas about Civil Rights and Freedom, he returned to India.  He lived at the Ashram in Ahmedabad on the Banks of the Sabarmati River for 12 years and set up a tertiary school for manual labour, agriculture and literacy.  And it was here that he embarked, with 78 companions, on the 241 mile Dandi Salt Protest March in 1930, to highlight the unfairness of the salt tax.

I wondered whether his thoughts would be any different, when applied to the toxic global community that we live in now....!

CHECKS AND STRIPES IN MALABAR

Surprisingly these beautiful colours are 100% organic dyes, the herbs sourced from the forests of the Western Ghats of India in the Northern most part of Kerala, an area known as Malabar.  This mountainous area running parallel to the West Coast of India is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a fascinating biological diversity and forms one of the 4 water sheds of India.

Weaving centres were set up in Cannanore, Calicut, Chombola and Tellicherry, under the patronage of the Basel Mission who were active in India from 1834.  Their objective was to pass on Christianity but the main focus of their work was to create employment opportunities for the people of the area.  So they taught printing, tile manufacture and weaving.

Traditionally the local villagers used small pit looms, weaving cotton fabric in their homes, but the Basel Mission, imported huge frame looms and the fly shuttle from Europe and for raw materials, they introduced scientific methods of cotton cultivation.  Women were employed as thread makers and spool winders, giving them economic independence.  Large sheds were erected to house the equipment and in this way they transformed what had been a small cottage industry into an economic enterprise.  By the early 20th c they were the largest industrial entrepreneur in Malabar.  Cotton fabric was exported all over the world, but particularly to Europe.  Kakki mill cloth for the armed forces was manufactured for the first time in India by the Basel Mission !

However, the World Wars saw their influence diminish and by the 1930s many of the Malabar
weaving centres had come under the jurisdiction of the State of Kerala, although small private concerns still exist.

The cotton fabrics in the picture above, are part of an exhibition being hosted by a private weaving centre in Gujarat.