A humbling experience

"Humbled, it was a humbling experience," muttered Imran Khan, the media manager for the West Indies team as he walked in to the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad where the West Indies kick off their Champions Trophy against Zimbabwe. Just minutes later his Zimbabwean counterpart showed up, muttering the same words, only adding, "I like this sort of thing. I'm going to keep this," he said, pointing to a garland he had been given at the Sabarmati Ashram for Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad.

Before they arrived for the usual motions – net and fielding practice – the two teams visited the ashram, situated on the banks of the Sabarmati river. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi stayed at this very ashram for close to two decades, and left on a note that no-one can forget – the 240-miles salt March that he and 79 of his supporters embarked on. When he was looking for a suitable site for the ashram, and came upon the place it was located, Gandhi is reported to have said, "This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for truth and develop fearlessness - for on one side are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other, thunderbolts of Mother Nature."

The main attraction at the ashram today is "Hridaya Kunj", the hut in which Gandhi lived. In it you can still find some of the items he used every day – a writing desk, a khadi kurta, yarn spun by him, and even some of his letters. The players had a look around, and as you can imagine, the young children who were present when Brian Lara entered were rather un-Gandhian in their exuberance, and quickly the place was enveloped by excited chatter as the players mingled with the children.

Moving on, the players looked at Vinobha Kutir, the hut where Vinobha Bhave stayed, which is also referred to as Mira Kutir, the residence of Madeline Slater who learned about the Gandhian way from Romaine Rolland's book, and stayed in the ashram from 1925-1933. Madeline was christened Meera by Gandhi because of her great devotion.

The players may or may not have picked up on all of this, but in these days of tight security and jam-packed tours where the closest the players get to a foreign reality is on their PlayStations in their plush hotel rooms, the visit to the ashram was certainly a welcome excursion.