Incidentally, Gandhiji visited London in 1931, when Edmund would have been just a year old. (Although Peter would have been 4, and it must have been something of a spectacle, so perhaps he might have seen it!) I'm sure there were serious things discussed on that visit, but what every Indian schoolchild remembers is the story of how Gandhiji met King George wearing his traditional loincloth or dhoti, and when asked why he did not wear anything more, said, "The King wore enough for both of us!"
I'm not sure if that's an apocryphal quote, but it is true that news reports of the time seemed obsessed with Gandhiji's wardrobe. (Winston Churchill of course called him a half-naked fakir.)
Let me just give you the American linkages, since you are after all writing a Washington story: When asked if he wouldn't wear trousers, tailcoat and top hat for his visit to Buckingham Palace, Gandhiji said: "Would a poor man in the United States change his dress to see President Hoover?" (which I suppose appealed to the fact that the Americans, unlike the British did not have the reverence for a monarch and so would understand his position). In the same year, while there was talk that Gandhiji might visit the US, TIME magazine reports that the Boston mayor promised him a royal reception. However, the city's Superintendent of Police added: "We shall insist that Gandhi be suitably clothed. We can't let any man appear in the streets of Boston in very much less than a one-piece bathing suit."
Anyway, most of this stuff is available in these contemporary articles found with a quick Google search:
And all this is not just irrelevent fashion history in India. Khadi, or homespun cotton, which Gandhiji made a political tool with his spinning wheel and loincloth, is still a political symbol in modern India. Just last week, I was interviewing Gandhiji's granddaughter at an event to revive traditional textiles in an effort to "be Indian, buy Indian" and fight globalisation's impacts. So you see, history and current affairs, daily work and the world of fanfic, have all collided delightfully for me this week!
(I'm sure all this is far more than you ever wanted to know, but once I started, I couldn't stop! Sorry!)
no subject
Incidentally, Gandhiji visited London in 1931, when Edmund would have been just a year old. (Although Peter would have been 4, and it must have been something of a spectacle, so perhaps he might have seen it!) I'm sure there were serious things discussed on that visit, but what every Indian schoolchild remembers is the story of how Gandhiji met King George wearing his traditional loincloth or dhoti, and when asked why he did not wear anything more, said, "The King wore enough for both of us!"
I'm not sure if that's an apocryphal quote, but it is true that news reports of the time seemed obsessed with Gandhiji's wardrobe. (Winston Churchill of course called him a half-naked fakir.)
Let me just give you the American linkages, since you are after all writing a Washington story: When asked if he wouldn't wear trousers, tailcoat and top hat for his visit to Buckingham Palace, Gandhiji said: "Would a poor man in the United States change his dress to see President Hoover?" (which I suppose appealed to the fact that the Americans, unlike the British did not have the reverence for a monarch and so would understand his position). In the same year, while there was talk that Gandhiji might visit the US, TIME magazine reports that the Boston mayor promised him a royal reception. However, the city's Superintendent of Police added: "We shall insist that Gandhi be suitably clothed. We can't let any man appear in the streets of Boston in very much less than a one-piece bathing suit."
Anyway, most of this stuff is available in these contemporary articles found with a quick Google search:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19311104&id=-J0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=czsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5229,4348632
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742602,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741418,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741901,00.html
And all this is not just irrelevent fashion history in India. Khadi, or homespun cotton, which Gandhiji made a political tool with his spinning wheel and loincloth, is still a political symbol in modern India. Just last week, I was interviewing Gandhiji's granddaughter at an event to revive traditional textiles in an effort to "be Indian, buy Indian" and fight globalisation's impacts. So you see, history and current affairs, daily work and the world of fanfic, have all collided delightfully for me this week!
(I'm sure all this is far more than you ever wanted to know, but once I started, I couldn't stop! Sorry!)