Gandhiji's smile

It was late December in 1946, when Gandhiji came to Santiniketan, a small town near Calcutta where I spent my early years. His visit coincided with annual fair (paus mela) and there was a lot of excitement in the air. I was a young girl of seven, and did not know much about Gandhiji. But I did know quite well that there were these thumb sized national flags being sold everywhere - flags that were attached to what really did catch my attention - the flagpole, which was a thin long colorful plastic straw filled with different flavors of sugary honey. As a young child, this captured my imagination and I was very much wanted to have one. I got few paisas (cents) from my mother, and holding them tightly clasped in my hand, ran to to purchase one. When I reached the mela ground, I found many people were streaming towards some other direction. I was curious and changed my direction and followed them. The crowd moved towards the central ground,"Gour Prangan"c(which was named after Gour Gopal Ghosh, who was my late father). That ground was used for all the big events that came to town and upon reaching there, I found the grounds flooded with people. And on a high platform stood a frail looking man on in the middle, wrapped up in a white cotton cloth, standing there and was saying something. He was also holding what I understood to be a donation box in his hand, where people were giving whatever money they could afford. With my immature mind I could understand that he was collecting money for the freedom movement.The whole atmosphere inspired me a lot. Though I neither had much understanding of the greatness of Gandhiji, nor did I know about freedom movement, I was attracted to the personality of this frail man making a speech and realized that some good work was being done. So like a small mouse in a maze, I squeezed through the crowd and managed to come near the central platform, where Gandhiji was standing with his donation box. All through I was holding those few coins tight in my hand and as if through an unseen force pushing me forward, I came right upto Gandhiji and put my precious few coins in his donation box. He was surprised at my gesture, and looked at me, to give me a kind, loving and bewildered smile, which stayed imprinted in my mind forever. Whenever I talk or think of him, I can see that smile vividly in my mind even now. I have now come to a ripe old age and like a river, I have passed through many ups and downs. But my childhood memory of Gandhiji remains clear and fragrant like the morning dew. Whenever I talk about him, his divine smile flashes in my mind and makes me feel blessed. I bow down to God, who inspired me to give my life's first donation to Gandhiji, for a good cause. I feel fortunate to have been brought up in Tagore's Santiniketan, where I got many opportunities to come close to many great souls.