Indian-Americans find indigenous way to prepare `Gandhi cap`

Washington: Indian-Americans here have come up with their own indigenous way to prepare the `Gandhi Topi`, which has emerged as the trade mark of the anti-corruption movement in India launched by social activist Anna Hazare.

Courtesy a nearly four-minute long video "How to make Gandhi Topi at home" on YouTube posted by one Sreekanth Kocharlakota, Indian-Americans have been making the cap using stuffs like newspapers and even kitchen paper towel. The cap appears to have become an integral part of the movement with people putting it on their head before attending protest rallies and demonstrations being held across the US in support of Hazare. "It`s easy to make," said Ashutosh Gupta, who along with his friends sported the `Gandhi cap` at the demonstration held in front of the Indian Embassy here. "Prepare Gandhi topi from a piece of paper. (Here is how to)," wrote Gupta in his mass e-mail sent to Indian-Americans on behalf of the India Against Corruption team from Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. The video gives a nearly four minute step-by-step tutorial on how to make Gandhi cap in minutes. "Anna! It is so simple to prepare Gandhi Topi. I tried just now following your demo. Let the spirit of Fight Against Corruption grows by wearing Gandhi Topi!" said one Raghu Nandagiri in his comment posted on Facebook. Vishesh, a student of University of Maryland, said it would have been impossible to have this `Gandhi Cap` available in the US without this tutorial. "We do not have a Khadi shop here and neither it would have been possible to get it here at such a short notice here. This is an environmental friendly and most cost effective way to have this cap for our demonstrations," he said. PTI