Gandhi's message retold beautifully

Darpana's 'Khadi Gaatha' has attained beauty through its inspiring content and creative imagination that has given it a pleasing audio-visual form. Mrinalini Sarabhai's obvious informed inputs of the time, Mallika's research along with Aparna's culling from books in Gujarati, her vibrant choreography and Jayan's music with Nisarga's singing have all contributed to the pleasing dance drama on a supposedly serious subject.
It begins with a symbolic scene in which a plucky bunch of men and women, Hindus and Muslims, all wearing spotless Khadi and keeping the tricolour aloft with 'Vande Maataram' , defy lathi blows and gunshots of the British police . Next moment, Mallika sitting on the left as the narrator with a 'pothi' (handwritten folio ) in front takes viewers back to the Vedic times with their chants, rishis and reference to the cosmos as the fabric.
In a brilliant scene, Anahita's Draupadi nurses and bandages Krishna's bleeding finger with a strip torn off her sari. In return, when Shashi's inimitable Dushasana tries to strip her in Duryodhana's court, Krishna keeps wrapping her up with as many garments as there were threads in that strip!
Verses by our saint poets like Thiruvalluvar and Kabir (' Jhini jhini re chadariya' ) abound in metaphors of weaving . Shah Jahan is shocked to notice his daughter Jahanara, a story goes, in the private royal garden one day walking almost unclad. He, however, learns that she is wearing not one but seven 'angarakhas' made of fine cloth!
Gandhi gradually wore simple clothing so that he could identify with the poor and the poor could identify with him. With the spinning wheel, Gandhi wished to awaken the idle masses to activity and to give them the strength to bring Swaraj. It gradually became a weapon and later led to the boycott of foreign clothes.
"Times and tastes have changed," the narrator observes . She adds that, with only human energy expended on them, khadi and handloom have the potential to solve many global problems. The text, music, choreography and enactment evoke nationalism at its noblest best and give a feel of beauty in simplicity. Schools and colleges should get to see 'Khadi Gatha' , which brings Gandhi and his magic to handshake proximity.