Remembering Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, 2019
(150th
Birth Anniversary)
On this glorious anniversary day of Gandhiji, here are a few
stories and aphorisms:
In
his school days, he succumbed to the influence of his friends to pick up the
habit of meat eating. In the American context, such influences and
adolescent hiccups are euphemistically termed as "peer
pressure". The teenager Gandhi, after gathering considerable courage
tasted goat meat. His friend bandied the usual argument like this:
"Indians are weak people, because they do not eat meat. Try eating
meat, it will give strength. The Britishers are strong because they eat
meat." On that first day of meat eating, in the sleep Gandhi had
nightmares. He felt that he saw a bleating goat inside the stomach.
That is a fertile imagination of a young boy. Due to his sensitive
nature, and due to the great respect for his parents, he gave up meat
eating. He thought that lying to his parents about meat eating would be a
greater sin. In a similar vein, the young Gandhi was saved from smoking,
stealing, etc. by his inner strength and sincerity; by the care provided by his
parents and nurse.
In
South Africa, as a brown barrister, Gandhi could not get a haircut. In
those apartheid days, the barber would cut the hair of only white people.
Gandhi bought a clipper, he could cut the front locks with the clipper, but
back hair was difficult to cut. So he went to the court with a shabby
hair cut. His friends ridiculed; but Gandhi just told the truth.
How many of us have the guts to walk in the street with a ragged haircut
nonchalantly? One can already gleam traces of extraordinary courage of a
would-be Mahatma; also we can see his total disregard to unnecessary
superficial social customs.
Although
Gandhiji's "Satyagraha" - is often termed as non-violence,
non-cooperation movement - such words do not connote the true meaning, nor do
they convey the true purport of "Satyagraha". Tracing its
origins to Samskrit (Sanskrit),
Satyagraha1 means, "true firmness or true anger"
i.e., believing in ones righteous cause and rejecting oppression. A
number of second and third-rate imitations of Gandhiji's non-violent movements
earned Nobel peace prize. The Nobel peace committee still regrets its omission
of peace prize for Gandhi. But who cares? His own people had
showered on Gandhi a number of titles to show their love and respect:
Bapuji, Father of the Nation, and Mahatma.
Before
adult literacy became a fashion and decades before Paulo Freire (the Brazilian
educationist in 1970s), Gandhiji initiated a drive for educating the illiterate
masses of Indian villages - this was way back in 1934. Pundits and elites
may quibble about his personality, queer habits such as embalming with
mudpacks, hydrotherapy, or drinking goat’s milk. But no one can dispute
that he trail blazed a number of revolutions against colonialism, racism, and
violence. Now people go gaga over alternate therapy but the Mahatma tried
naturotherapy on himself and others long ago! Be it public sanitation, personal
hygiene, frugality, or sustainable living, Gandhiji was way ahead of the time.
Selected Aphorisms
Politics without principles, Gandhi said, is a deadly sin
that contributes to violence.
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and
the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of
totalitarianism, or the holy name of liberty, or democracy?
Ends never justify the means
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote the freedom to err.
The woes of the Mahatmas are known
only to the Mahatmas.
Sarojini Naidu" if only Bapu knows the cost of setting him up in
poverty" (This remark came after totaling all the expenses incurred on
behalf of Mahatma’s travel in a third class railway compartment. It included
things like putting a mat, a spinning wheel, etc.)
The Swedish economist, Gunnar Myrdal called Gandhi "Enlightened
Liberal".
Let me conclude with a quotation by Albert Einstein on hearing his death:
"Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one as
this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth".
1. (aagraha =
attack, persistence, force, courage, seizing)
(A version of this article was originally posted at Sulekha.
It received sizeable readership and a small reward. My friend and I were lucky
to see Gandhi’s historical documents, personal effects, his spinning wheel, and
reading glasses via a traveling exhibition at Kakinada Port station. Later I
visited his memorial in Delhi and spent a day in Wardha ashram. Wearing a
simple khadi shirt on a hot sultry
day, adhering to truth even in the most humiliating situation, or taking a mud
bath in a stream may teach us much more about the Mahatma than simply reading
volumes of second hand biographical accounts. In the entire world there was
only one Mahatma, who could mobilize thousands instantaneously for a just
cause. India was lucky to have such a gifted son in its most trying circumstances.)
Copyright by the author 2019
