A Mysuru school, Shakthidhama’s new spin on Gandhi

Shakthidhama has a room dedicated to charkhas, where students feel empowered crafting their own yarn as they carry forth a legacy

The lush campus teems with women and children. On the walls are an assortment of pictures: the late Kannada actor Rajkumar, the writer Kuvempu and drawings by children. On the blackboards are jottings on Chandrayaan-3, English grammar, and biology. This is Shakthidhama school in Mysuru, but it is one with a difference — it carries forth an ancient tradition.

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A bell rings announcing the end of the school day. Twenty-five children, all 14 years old, make a beeline for the charkha room: a dedicated space where students sit on a carpet and spin. This is a new ritual. In four months, the children have spun 650 metres of yarn to produce khadi. This project was the brainchild of K.J. Sachidananda, an artist based out of Mysuru. After buying a charkha of his own, he has travelled across the country, spinning, and recounting tales of Gandhi.

To Gandhi, the charkha symbolised self-reliance and freedom. He once wrote: “The message of the spinning wheel is much wider than its circumference. Its message is one of simplicity, service of mankind, living so as not to hurt others, creating an indissoluble bond between the rich and the poor, capital and labour, the prince and the peasant.”

Sachidananda organises spinning workshops in the city and elsewhere, in the hope of inspiring people. “Gandhi is not a noun, he is a verb, and he lives in every one of us. We just need to find him within and bring him out. That’s what I did with the children at the school,” he says.

Shakthidhama, a rehabilitation centre, is supported by Rajkumar’s family. It provides shelter to rape victims, destitutes, those rescued from prostitution, human trafficking and domestic violence. The centre also helps with educating children from different backgrounds, including economically weaker sections, and children with single parents. After the demise of Rajkumar, his wife, and his son Puneeth Rajkumar, the onus of running the centre has fallen on the shoulders of his eldest son, actor Shiva Rajkumar, and his wife Geetha.

Rajeshwari, the social science teacher at the centre, leads the charkha project. She believes spinning is a masterclass in history. “Students only learn about Gandhi through textbooks; but by spinning — using the tool that was so dear to him — we are making sure his legacy lives on.”