Gandhiji set about the Salt Satyagrah and got
into jail in 1930. The government detained him at Yerawada jail as a
political prisoner. The government chose me to accompany him and I was
transferred there from Sabarmati jail. I stayed there with Gandhiji for
about five months. He was in Yerawada jail nearly for eight months. Owing to
a dispute with the government he stopped allowing visitors. Each week he
would send a lot of letters to people. He wrote hundreds of letters in those
days. All the while he would be busy spinning the cotton and thinking about
possibilities of improvement in it. He would be immersed in spinning cotton
on his spinning wheel. The rhythmic sound of his spinning wheel would give
the feeling of listening to the Shlokas (verses) of Mahabharata, written in
‘Anushtubh’ metre. It seemed very sweet and elegant. During those days in
the jail he made various kinds of spindles from earthen roof-tiles, pieces
of broken earthen pots and bamboo. He had received so many types of spinning
wheels too, like ‘Jeev Chakra’, ‘Gandiv’, ‘Bardoli Chakra’ and the
‘Villager’s Chakra’ etc.
He studied all those spinning wheels to assess
their positive and negative aspects and then developed a beautiful spinning
wheel called the ‘Yerawada Chakra’. He had asked the carding instrument to
be brought to his room even before he reached the prison. He used to card
the cotton on it and make fine cotton wads for spinning. He used to make the
spindles or spinning wheels, card the cotton, make fine cotton wads, spin
the yarn, make spools, sew the caps, etc with absolute concentration. In
spite of being in jail himself, he thought and cared about his countrymen
and their families. He showed deep interest in the personal and domestic
life of those who sent him letters. He would offer them proper counsel with
a holistic view of their physical, emotional and spiritual health.