11 min readNew DelhiOct 1, 2026 10:16 AM IST First published on: Oct 1, 2026 at 10:16 AM ISTAquil Busrai remembers his last visit to his ancestral home, Hyderi Manzil, in Calcutta’s Beliaghata, as a difficult one. The weight of nostalgia was too heavy; he could not bring himself to step inside.A typical baganbari, or garden house, Hyderi Manzil had Grecian pillars, rooms on all sides, and large windows. “It’s a sprawling place. I don’t remember the exact size, but it must be around four to five acres with a traditional pukur (pond),” Busrai tells indianexpress.com.AdvertisementLike any ancestral home, it is filled with memories. But Hyderi Manzil also occupies an unusual place in the memory of hundreds of others. It was here, in August-September 1947, that Mahatma Gandhi spent the tumultuous weeks surrounding Independence.The house has since been renovated and renamed Gandhi Bhavan. But why did Gandhi choose Hyderi Manzil, in the Muslim-dominated locality of Beliaghata? And what did he hope to achieve by staying there?