Aga Khan Palace

      Sometimes, I really feel ashamed of myself. I mean I love travelling, visiting new places and getting to know about them, but at times I don't know about certain things in my own city.

      I wouldn't often go to Kalyani Nagar, but whenever I went, I would see this bridge called the Aga Khan Bridge. I never paid much attention to it. But for a few days I had been visiting Kalyani Nagar more often and I read this sign board which had Aga Khan Palace written on it. One day, I decided to visit the Palace. I had an extra hour, so I thought why not go and see what it is instead of wasting time here and there.
      As I was on my way to the palace I was thinking how did I not visit this place even once in my lifetime. I never even really paid attention to it. I mean I would read the name, but I don't know why I didn't pay attention to it. Also it is on the same road that leads to my hometown. Yet I never gave myself a chance to peek out and take a look at the palace.

     So as I was on my way, I was thinking, who is this Aga Khan and how will the palace be. First thought-

This is what I thought the Palace will be like

       I thought it will be an old broken into pieces structure, with just a few pillars left, with rats running here and there and surrounded with barren lifeless land. But when I reached there, to my surprise, it was the complete opposite.

The Palace had a nice big gate.

The entrance of the Aga Khan Palace

        Then I parked my bike and read this board right near the entrance.

Well OK!!

         Then as I walked in there was a big circle with a huge banyan tree.

Is it one or many? :-P

        I walked further and I saw a clean white building from a midst the trees.

Peek-a-boo!! The Palace from the entrance

         And then I walked towards the Palace and as I stood in front of it, I was left awestruck.

The Palace from different angles.

        It was the complete opposite of what I thought (as I said before). It was so clean, white and surrounded with lovely green grass and big trees from all sides. It was very clean and very green. How the heck in life did I miss a visit to this place, was all that I thought as I stood there looking at the beautiful Palace.

      Well there was no one who could give me some information about the palace, so I had to read the display boards and collect the information by myself. So here's presenting The Aga Khan Palace from my point of view.

     So basically many many years ago, many villagers suffered a huge loss in a famine. So in 1892 the 3rd Agakhan Sultan Mohammoad Shah Agakhan built this Palace as a source of employment for these famine-struck villagers. The palace provided a source of employment for about 1000 people and took about 5 years to be constructed completely. All the employees were given full hearted wages for their livelihood.

     Then during the British Rule, Gandhiji was arrested in Bombay (Mumbai) for his 'Quit India' movement and was bought to the Aga Khan Palace on 9th August, 1942. He was held captive along with his wife, Kasturba and his secretary of nearly 35 years, Mahadev Desai. On 15th August, 1942 Mahadev Desai suffered a heart-attack and lost his life. Gandhiji had lost a dear one and did not want to hand over the body to the officials. He also wanted to perform the last rites himself for Mahadev.

       Gandhiji was not allowed to go out of the Palace so the last rites were performed in the Palace itself and the samadhi of Mahadev Desai now lies in the palace. Kasturba also lost her life while at the Aga Khan Palace. Even her samadhi lies in the palace itself. Gandhiji was held captive for 21 months and released on 6th May, 1944.

Mahadev Desai and Kasturba Gandhi

        10 years after the independence, in 1957, Shah Karim Agakhan became the 4th Aga Khan after the death of his grandfather the 3rd Agakhan Sultan Mohammoad Shah Agakhan. In 1969 he donated the palace to the government of India in memory of Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy.

A little info about Agakhan 3rd and 4th

        This palace is a simple memorial to Gandhiji and his life. Inside the Palace is also a museum which has many of Gandhiji's belongings put to display. There are letters, photographs, utensils, clothes, paintings, etc used by or related to Gandhiji in this museum.

The various things related to Gandhiji's life put to display in the museum

         The Aga Khan Palace has been declared as a monument of national importance by the Archaeological Survey of India.

      So basically, the Aga Khan Palace was build by a noble Agakhan to provide employment to the famine-struck people in that region. Then Gandhiji was held captive here for almost 2 years and later on the Palace was donated to the government of India by the grandson of the Aga Khan who had built it.

     This is what I know about the Aga Khan Palace, if there is anything more than this that you know, please comment it down below. I would love to read more about it. :-)