*1st of April 1927 CE/2470 BE / 36 AE
Going to drink water from the tank in Mahad had not been part of the original plan. When thousands of people marched to Chavdar Tale, you could feel the electrifying energy in the air. The violent reaction from the savarna crowd in Mahad, to the seemingly simple act of drinking water, convinced Ambedkar that this had to be continued. That somehow this energy had to be channelised and mobilised. Already on his way back from Mahad, they had started discussing various possibilities of doing so. The following days, back in Bombay, were filled with a flurry of activities – meetings, rumours, reports, rounds and rounds of discussion about the next steps. This seemed like a perfect time to launch the newspaper he had been working towards. This conviction solidified over the few next days, as they read the reporting and misreporting of the event in various savarna-run newspapers.

It really had been an overwhelming week. As Ambedkar and R. B. More sat down for dinner with the tiffin from Ambedkar’s home, they were both in their own thoughts. Ambedkar still had to finalise his article stating his position on the 20th March conference. More was trying to remember if he had missed anything in his report of the event. Everything had to be finalised within the next couple days to launch Bahishkrut Bharat on the 3rd of April. Another long sleepless night in Raheem Wada, both of them working on their articles. The faint scratching of penstrokes drifted into the silence of the pitch-dark moonless night.

*This creative retelling draws on the following accounts: Biwalkar & Kamble, 1977/2011; More & More, 2020; Teltumbde, 2016.

Mahad is a small town 4-5 hours south of Mumbai. This is the town where
Dr. Ambedkar is said to have taken out his first satyagraha in March 1927. He led a group of thousands of Dalits to drink water from Chavdar Tale - something which they weren't socially allowed to. Later that year in December he also organised a ritual burning of the Hindu teXt Manusmriti.

Today, Ambedkar's statue marks Chavdar Tale, and a tall statue of the torch marks the ground where the performative burning of Manusmriti was organised. 20th March and 25th December is celebrated in Mahad with much fanfare with people coming in from all over Maharashtra.

A very cosmopolitan town which is populated by people from different communities and has become a small hub by itself. This is especially because of the Industrial corridor established close to the city.