Khadi Gandhi Birthday

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Khadi Homespun Material and
Mahatma Gandhi Birthday
Gandhi Jayanthi Day

***** Location: India
***** Season: See below
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

khadi, a topic for haiku

Khadi is a homespun cotton fabric introduced to India by Mahatma Gandhi.
When I travelled in India with my husband around 1980, the first thing to do was to get a tailormade khadi suit for both of us. Thus with my short hair I was safe everywhere as the younger brother of Bernd.

I still cherish my khadi suit here in Japan and wear the vest in wintertimes.

Gabi Greve


Click HERE to see some photos of
India's Khadi Culture

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Gandhi promoted Khadi for self sustainability. He wasn't trying to generate employment for the country and neither was he out to create a market about "help the poor" charity. His whole premise was that everyone, rich or poor or in between, should have access to food, shelter and clothing in a self-reliant way. That is, they shouldn't create dependencies on cities, government or economies, lest they get corrupt.

Read more here:
http://nipun.charityfocus.org/blog/ar/pilgrimvedchi/000663.html

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Khadi - The Fabric of Freedom and Fashion

The first true Indian designer was Mahatma Gandhi when he urged the people of India to wear khadi garments. It was not only a call to create self reliance but a call to create self reliance but a call to wear something that could prove the unity of India. Khadi was given a more important status by Gandhi after his return from South Africa. While in search of the charkha Gandhi felt that for a nation to turn self-reliant, it had to return to indigenous manufactured goods.

Gandhi wrote. Swaraj (self-rule) without swadeshi (country made goods) is a lifeless corpse and if Swadeshi is the soul of Swaraj, khadi is the essence of swedeshi. Therefore khadi became not only a symbol of revolution and resistance but part of an Indian identity.

Gandhi confessed though,
When I first discovered the spinning wheel it was purely through intuition. It was not backed by knowledge so much so that I confused charkha with kargha (handloom).

These two forms of fabrics have always confused people. While khadi is hand made, handloom yarn is processed at the mills.

Read more here:
http://www.indiaprofile.com/fashion/khadi.htm

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The importance of how he dressed was very closely related to Gandhi's vision not only of the means Indians should use to achieve independence but also of the type of nation India should become. Central to that vision was home-spun cloth known as khadi. Khadi would make Indians self-sufficient and would eventually result in swaraj or self-rule.

Read:
Gandhi Speaks Through Clothing : Jean Johnson

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The Khadi (Handspun Cotton) Culture

Gandhiji with his spinning wheel


The handspun cotton, known as Khadi is of special significance to Indians. Gandhi elevated the fragile thread of cotton to as a symbol of strength, and self-sufficiency and to employment for the millions during India's freedom struggle, and that symbolism of wearing cloth made by human hands has continued till this day.

© K.L. Kamat/Kamat's Potpourri

Look at the photos here:
http://www.kamat.com/indica/culture/eco-friendly/khadi.htm


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

14th august . . .
people still wear khadi
. . . a few

Kala Ramesh
Independence Day (India) August 15, 1947

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spilling curry
on my khadi suit -
all natural colors

weaving khadi
with her wrinkled hands -
winter in the village

Gabi Greve

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Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday
UN Day of Non-violence
October 2
Kigo for Autumn


"Happiness is when
what you think,
what you say, and
what you do
are in harmony."
*Mahatma Gandhi*



2 October, 2002
Indians have been marking the 133rd birth anniversary of one of their most revered leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, who fought against British colonial rule through non-violent means.


133 children dress as Gandhi in Lucknow to mark the 133rd birthday

Look at more photos from
BBC UK


Gandhi's birthday
constantly relighting candles
during the march

Gandhi's birthday
the bird droppings are gone
from the statue

Johannes Manjrekar, India, September 2006

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smoking cannabis
at the Sabarmati--
2 October

R.K.SINGH, India, 2006
http://rksingh.blogspot.com/

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Gandhi Jayanthi ~
"your man gan-dee is outdated
it is the age of IT"

Gandhi Jayanthi ~
the fallen leaves rustle around
the gandhi statue

Narayanan Raghunathan, September 2006

Click HERE to see photos of Gandhi Jayanthi Day

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bapu . . .
weaving tomorrow
with a loom

robert wilson, September 2006

Bapu [Gandhiji's pet name among people]

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Known for Himalayan
blunder, Gandhiji was
a cult figure.

M.K.Gandhi was
non-violent in deed but not
at heart, not in mind.

© Aju Mukhopadhyay, 2006

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Gandhi,
in the Promenade Gardens'
fierce sun

Kenneth Daniels (GY)
A celebration takes place every year in our Gardens before Gandhi's statute on this day.
October 2009


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Related words

***** Independence Day (India) August 15, 1947


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