08 March,2009 09:53 AM IST | | Arun Kumar
This time, it's for charity, says Otis
US collector James Otis has offered to donate a few more of Mahatma Gandhi's belongings to India provided New Delhi agrees to his proposal to substantially increase its spending on healthcare for the poor. 'I have other Gandhi belongings. I would like to donate more items to the people of India to raise money for the poor,' said the Los Angeles-based activist whose collection of five Gandhi items was bought by Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya in a New York auction for $1.8 mn.
'I had put up the items for auction for the cause of the poor,' Otis said in a telephone interview from New York.
'I will be getting $1 million from the auction. I will be donating every penny of it for the cause of the underprivileged including those in India.'
The other Gandhi items in his possession include a 1934 letter written in green crayon and signed Bapu, and the Mahatma's last pathological blood report signed by Dr B L Taneja of the Irwin Hospital dated '21/1/48', nine days before his assassination.
The letter reads: 'My dear Dorothy, Thank god the fast went off as well as it did. I am slowly but steadily gaining strength. Love. Bapu. 1934.'
Otis said he also has a 1924 telegram addressed to Gandhi by one Enayatullah, managing agent Tai company, Karachi with the Mahatma's scribbled response. The telegram reads: 'Please stay with me when you come to Karachi. It will be good for noble cause.' To which Gandhi responds: 'Thanks but before I come... I must know the cause...'
