Introduction to Gandhi’s London: A Walking Tour
Leader of Indian independence movement, Mr. M.K. Gandhi [Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi] also known reverently in India as Mahatma [Saint] Gandhi spent considerable time in London as a student and then visiting as a political activist from South Africa. His time in London was crucial to his understanding of the British mind and and its many complexities.
Gandhi first came to London in 1888 to study law at the University College of London. Soon, he took to walking long distances in London first in search of vegetarian food and then habitually to think on his feet. His habit to walk long distances that he acquired during his London years became a part of his Satyagraha movement in South Africa and India. It then culminated into one of the greatest peaceful acts of defiance against the colonial rule when he marched 241 miles at 61 years of age to make salt from sea water. This walk captured the imagination of all Indians and indeed the world. In legendary Oscar winning film Gandhi by Richard Attenborough, Gandhi tells a reporter in jest ” I am Walker.”
Gandhi’s London Walk is a guided walking tour tracing his footsteps over a hundred years ago through central London and looking at historical buildings associated with him.
Gandhi visited London on five occasions. He spent the longest time in London as a student, lived at various locations across the length and breadth of the city, made lifelong friendships, travelled to suburbs and got to interact with many luminaries of the time.
His three visits as a civil rights leader in South Africa were brief but critical to his interaction with civil rights leaders, as well as colonial authorities. He made many public speeches and attended meetings across London. He started to acquire a strong following over the years in London and by the time he made his final visit to attend the round table conference on indepedent India, he was already a huge celebrity. Groups and individuals jostled to see him and be in his company. Gandhi chose to be with the poorest of the poor.
London of those years has changed beyond recognition. Many of the buildings have been demolished, others destroyed in the blitz and yet others have made way for grand new developments. Many more are in outlying areas, hardly known and mostly forgotten. Yet, numerous buildings that still stand are neither known in the context of their association with this great man nor for their significance to Indian colonial rule and independence.This walk shall place London and its many great landmarks in a whole new context and doubtless interest and fascinate millions.
A good part of Gandhi’s own time in London is well documented in his own diaries, letters and records of communication by others he met. Scholars have researched the subject in depth. At least two books have been written on the subject.
For extensive research and planning, funding was obtained from The Goyal Foundation to start Gandhi’s London walk as a regular tour.
The London Walks company and its highly qualified Blue Badge tour guides agreed to study the subject and turn this into a professional walking tour.
London is a walker’s delight. Hundreds of beautiful buildings with great historical importance and notoriety stand in this city. Accomplished guides regale tourists with historical accounts, stories and anecdotes about these buildings. Anyone familiar with Indian history shall begin to recognise the names, places and persons in the story and find that a part of London belongs to the proud past and history of not just Britons but Indians as well. There is a certain spiritual energy about those buildings with which names of many great leaders and martyrs are associated.
Gandhi’s London walk is a 2 to 3 Hour journey through heart of London. Outlying areas have not been included. Come prepared in comfortable walking shoes. To book this tour or join one, write 
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