Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Mahatma Gandhi...

We all know Mahatma Gandhi as the man who led our country to freedom. But we know little about some smaller and more astonishing facts about his life. The following are 16 facts about Mahatma Gandhi that are mostly unknown:

1. Mahatma Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize 5 times

The committee regrets not giving him the Nobel Peace prize to this day as the award is never given posthumously. 

2. M. K. Gandhi was responsible for the Civil Rights movement in 4 continents and 12 countries

3. The funeral procession of Mahatma Gandhi was 8 kilometers long

4. Great Britain, the country against whom he fought for independence, released a stamp honouring him, 21 years after his death

5. Mahatma Gandhi walked/traveled almost 18 kilometers a day throughout his lifetime which is enough to walk around the world twice over

6. Gandhiji served in the army during the Boer war – he crusaded against violence since the time he realized the horrors of war

7. Mahatma Gandhi corresponded with a lot of people – Tolstoy, Einstein and Hitler were among the many

8. Gandhiji was not present during Nehru’s tryst of destiny speech to celebrate independence.

He was in Kolkata fasting for religious harmony.

9. Most relics of Gandhiji including the clothes he wore when he was shot are still preserved in Gandhi Museum, Madurai

10. He never held an official position in any political body during the final years of his life

11. He was thinking of dissolving the Congress a day before he died

12. Steve Jobs was a fan of Mahatma Gandhi – his round glasses are not only similar but also a tribute

13. Gandhiji had a set of false teeth, which he carried in a fold of his loin cloth

14. Mahatma Gandhi spoke English with an Irish accent, for one of his first teachers was an Irishman

15. There are 53 major roads (excluding the smaller ones) in India, and 48 roads outside India that are named after him

16. Gandhiji helped establish 3 football clubs in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg all of which were given the same name: Passive Resisters Soccer Club.

Mahatma Gandhi promoted football in his non-violent campaign against racial discrimination.

We can see in all Indian currencies, Gandhiji’s facial image being printed. The Smiling Gandhiji is very popular among the countrymen. Many of us think that image is a drawn picture. But, in fact it was a photo shot and picturised in 1946 by an unknown photographer. The original photo is displayed here. In the original photo Gandhiji smiles to some person nearby. That hollow smile picture had been developed into a mirror image and then the same has been imaged in the Indian Rupee currencies.      

Picture 1: Gandhiji is with Frederic Pethic Lawrence, who was then British secretary for India and Burma. The photo was shot at the former Viceroy House, Which is now the Rashtrapathy Bhavan.

Picture 2: The mirror image of original picture. 

      

Picture 3. The image taken from the picture is being printed in the Rupee Currency notes.

Picture 4, 5. The picture of Gandhiji is being used in the currencies.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.” Throughout his life Mahatma Gandhi did things that were inspirational, things that nobody thought he could do and made sure that he lived up to this line said by him.