kesari wada

It’s easy to miss Kesariwada in the bustling alleys of Shaniwar Peth if you don’t keep a lookout for a gateway bearing its name. It seems frozen in time as you walk past the old heavy wooden doors with their massive bolts and its insides suddenly transform into a modern complex with a building, auditorium, office and a museum. Going by the modern cars parked in the courtyard, it’s hard to visualise the house as a place where revolutions fuelling the freedom struggle were planned and launched. This is where Gandhi often visited to discuss various issues with Lokmanya Tilak, and where freedom fighters and editors penned scathing articles against the British rule. But as you walk up to the museum, the Tilak era literaly engulfs you. A century- old intricately carved wooden table where Tilak and British socialist, women's rights activist and writer Annie Besant held talks on the Home Rule still stands. Everything from a glorious past, the desk where Tilak scripted the Geeta Rahasya, the sepia- tinted first editions of the Kesari and Mahratta newspapers, and the letters to his nephew, Dhondopant Vidwans, from the Mandalay Jail, are displayed here. Unlike most museums, where articles and letters flood the shelves, the Tilak family has thoughtfully recreated the revolutionary freedom fighter’s study and the Mandalay Jail with his life- sized statues and personal belongings. These tributes to the freedom struggle have been painstakingly put together and maintained over the years.

Moment in history: This was one of the hubs of the freedom struggle where hundreds of freedom fighters met to plan and launch several agitations

Look out for: The first issue of the Kesari and Mahratta newspapers. The printing machine Tilak brought from England in 1886 for publishing his newspapers.