SALT BAY

In a strange turn of events, we want the British back. Sort of

- Ruman Devmane

Study in Poland,’ read a vinyl advertisement banner, dangling loosely on the locked gate. You must have to be really desperate to get out, if Poland was your migratory residence of choice. The more pressing scenario at that time, however, was the locked gate itself. We’d spent the better part of a morning to get to Dandi, Gujarat, and to be locked out of its only beach set off panic alarms. I decided to consult the head of the security arrangement, a must for what is arguably the most important beach in terms of India’s history and freedom struggle. Unfortunately, despite looking hard and all over, there was no head of security to meet. There was, in fact, no security at all.

The idea of taking two British icons to Dandi, a town that marked the beginning of a globally recognised anti-British rule movement, was a cheeky one, but we thought of it as no more than just that. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi had set off on the Dandi March from his abode, the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, to protest against the salt tax levied upon Indian salt producers by the East India Company. This form of non-violent disobedience made headlines around the world and was a major setback, even though the offending parties barely admitted it, to the British regime. Twenty-four days later, Gandhi, along with thousands of his followers, made it to Dandi and, in a splendid act of defiance, produced salt from the sea water by himself.