‘Digital journey through Gandhiji’s life’: A walk through Dandi Kutir in Ahmedabad

Visitors walk across the cable-stayed bridge before reaching the entrance plaza, where the museum tour begins. Groups of roughly 50 people are allowed in at fixed intervals; each batch begins an 82-minute walkthrough of the galleries inside.

“The most memorable part was when Gandhiji was talking to us,” says Mohit, a 13-year-old visitor who had travelled from Rajasthan. “Seeing the hologram and hearing him speak was the part that stayed with me the most.”

Inside the museum. (Image source: Dandi Kuntir website)

“Generally, 500 to 600 people visit the museum during weekdays,” says an administrative official at the museum. “But on Saturdays and Sundays, the number increases significantly. On weekends, we easily get 900 to 1,000 visitors.”

The footfall also increases during festival periods, she says; the museum expects another rise in visitors once the Class 10 and 12 board examinations conclude.

The entry fee is Rs 10 for Indian nationals and Rs 200 for foreign visitors. School and college students that present official letters are allowed to enter free of charge.

With the Salt March anniversary approaching, the museum usually observes the date with symbolic programmes.

“We always mark the anniversary,” she says. “Last year we organised a recreation of the Dandi March inside the campus, where children walked from Gate No. 2. It became a powerful tribute.”

Before entering the galleries, there are Gujarat government-run shops selling ethnic textiles and local craft products.

A few steps away sits the museum’s souvenir shop, operated in association with the Sabarmati Ashram.

Shelves display charkha models, notebooks with simple Swadeshi-style covers, bookmarks, and magnets carrying Gandhian motifs. Replicas of the familiar “three wise monkeys” appear beside stacks of khadi products and natural goods. According to staff members, the revenue generated here supports educational initiatives associated with the Sabarmati Ashram.

Nearby, a bookstore acts as a quiet corner of the complex.

Visitors browsing the shelves find books in English, Hindi, and Gujarati. The most frequently purchased title remains Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth.

Next to the shop sits a small reading area where visitors pause before or after their museum tour. A modest eatery designed around the charkha motif provides another place for visitors to sit briefly before entering the galleries.

From the open courtyard of shops and cafés, the movement into the museum becomes noticeably quieter.

Inside, visitors are issued wireless headphones connected to an automated audio guide system. “The museum is a comprehensive digital journey through Gandhiji’s life,” the administrative official says. “Visitors receive headphones connected to what we call a ‘Guide Port’. As they move through each section, the system automatically triggers the relevant stories, videos, and graphics.”

The galleries unfold across three levels inside the salt-mound structure. Visitors typically begin their tour at the top and gradually descend through a sequence of ramps and corridors as the story of Gandhi’s life unfolds. The early sections recreate his childhood in Porbandar and Rajkot before moving into the years he spent studying law in London. From there, the narrative shifts to South Africa, where many of the experiences that shaped his philosophy of satyagraha first took form. One installation recreates the 1893 incident at Pietermaritzburg railway station, where Gandhi was thrown out of a train compartment despite having a valid ticket. As the tour continues through the galleries, the story returns to India.

The exhibits follow Gandhi’s arrival in 1915 and his journeys across the country as he attempted to understand the lives of ordinary Indians.

One installation simulates a train journey through curved LED screens and moving projections. It represents the way Gandhi travelled across the subcontinent, meeting farmers, workers, and local leaders. Among the installations is a holographic scene in which a life-sized projection of Gandhi sits at a charkha, quietly spinning thread. Two other figures gradually appear beside him, appearing to be Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

For many visitors, the museum’s technology is what makes the experience memorable. Students visiting the museum say the immersive displays make historical events easier to visualise than classroom lessons alone.

But the technological system does not always work perfectly for every visitor.

During the walkthrough, one elderly visitor said she struggled to follow parts of the narration. “I could see the pictures and videos,” she says. “But I could not understand the words because most of it was in English.”

The museum’s audio guide system is designed to operate in multiple languages, though navigating the settings may not always be immediately clear to some visitors.

(Nishant Bal is an intern at the Ahmedabad office of The Indian Express.)