When American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr visited Mani Bhawan half a century ago, he declined to go and stay in a hotel, opting to put in the building that housed the memories and artefacts of Mohandas Gandhi, a man King Jr greatly admired.

“He refused to stay in the five-star hotel that had been booked for him, preferring Mani Bhawan instead,” trustee Usha Trivedi, the only person at the institution who was present during King Jr’s visit – and was a librarian at the time – said. “We had to arrange for some furniture for him; a cupboard, a writing table and a couple of beds. Gandhiji’s literature was also made available to him in his room.”

 

Now Mani Bhawan is gearing up to welcome King Jr’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III,  to commemorate 50 years of his father’s visit. Accompanying King might be rights activist John Lewis and Jazz maestro Herbie Hancock. The over three hours visit will include garlanding a statue of Gandhi, a walk through the library and the museum, a charkha demonstration and an interaction with the trustees of Mani Bhawan.

 

King Jr, the youngest winner of the Nobel peace prize in 1964, had visited Mani Bhawan on a two-day tour meant to study Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence. King Jr, along with his wife Coretta Scott, decided to stay on the second floor of the Mani Bahawan guesthouse.

 

Trivedi had gotten close to Coretta, with both of them singing devotional songs to each other. ‘I sang Vaishnav jan to and some other Gujarati songs for her, while she sang some English hymns. She was a perfect wife and a great admirer of her husband. She wanted to buy Indian bangles from the Kalbadevi market, but couldn’t make time for it,” Trivedi said.

 

Mani Bhawan proudly preserves the message King Jr wrote in it. It says: “To have the opportunity of sleeping in the house where Gandhiji slept, is an experience that I will never forget.”

 

According to Ketan Vaidya, media advisor at the US consulate, after spending two days in Mumbai, King and his companions will leave for Ahmedabad where they will visit Sabarmati Ashram. He said a concert by Herbie Hancock may also be organised in Mumbai during his visit.