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A prison finds its conscience
Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned in a Johannesburg prison at least four times along with other greats of the South African freedom struggle. As a mark of respect to the man of the masses who resisted racial discrimination, a part of the prison has been converted into a permanent museum for “Gandhi:
A Prisoner of Conscience”, says A.J. Philip after a visit to the historical building
IT was difficult to believe that we were climbing up a hill where once stood a notorious prison where unimaginable indignities and barbarities were heaped on the prisoners among whom were two of the 20th century’s greatest political figures — Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Known as Section 4 Prison in Johannesburg, it was home to thousands of hapless blacks who fell on the wrong side of the law or those whom the apartheid regime found inconvenient to be allowed to remain outside prison.
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| Cells for solitary confinement. |
The cell where Gandhi was imprisoned. The photographs are of those who were kept in the cell at one time or another.
— Photos by the writer |
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Bollywood’s glamour icon Aishwarya Rai, whose much discussed Umrao Jaan has just been released, calls herself a contemporary woman who can go back to “another era” any time. “If I may say so, I’m equipped to go back to that era of elegant dancing because I’m a girl very rooted in Indian culture. I’m teased that I belong to some other era,” Aishwarya tells
Subhash K. Jha in an interview.
Aishwarya Rai in a still from Umrao Jaan |
Spiritual saga
Oscar winner Nicolas Cage is set to star in a big screen adaptation of Virgin Comics The Sadhu, which will be written by Deepak Chopra. According to
contactmusic.com, Chopra is the co-founder of Virgin Comics, which is bankrolled by Sir Richard Branson. The Sadhu was originally written by Chopra's son.
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