An 'awed and humbled' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday retraced the footsteps of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at the South African railway station of Pietermaritzburg, 113 years after the Mahatma undertook the fateful train journey that changed the course of history.
In his first public engagement after arriving on a four-day visit, Singh undertook a train journey from Pentrich station to Pietermaritzburg, 95 km from Durban, the route taken by Gandhiji on his way to Pretoria on June 7, 1893 when he was thrown out of the compartment for being a coloured person.
'I am awed and humbled to be at the very spot at which began the transformation of an ordinary young lawyer into an extraordinary legend who influenced the destiny of my country,' Singh wrote in the visitors book.
Earlier in his remarks before a large and distinguished gathering, the prime minister said, "It is hard to put feelings into words as I stand here. It is easy to feel the presence of the Mahatma here and imagine what he went through during that night of June 7, 1893.'
Stating that he was moved by the experience and that he would bear it in memory forever, the Indian leader said that Gandhiji's resolve to resist injustice and oppression was born here and this idea eventually brought India its independence.
Singh said that Pietermaritzburg was worthy of inscription as a world heritage site.