Day 72 - Gandhi

While flipping channels on TV I came up against the movie 'Gandhi' and decided to watch it again - after all it is India's 60th Republic Day today! I also invited Ipsi to sit and watch it with me as I wanted her to learn about the struggle for Independence and Gandhiji's role in it.

But as I watched the movie I started questioning myself about the manner in which he fought for our independence. In trying to explain the concept of Ahimsa to a 7 year old, I struggled to make myself believe that it can actually be done that way. I tried to explain to my daughter that Gandhiji taught that if someone hits you don't hit him back even though that is your most natural reaction. He taught that you take his beating not once, not twice but many times, but never lift your finger. It will hurt but in the end the 'evil' person will recognise their mistake and bow down to you.

Even when I was explaining this to her and showing her the specific scenes in the movie to drive home the point, I was wondering how the people of India believed in his words and actually practiced it and followed it. What made the millions of Indians leave their natural tendencies of fighting and retaliation and follow an unknown path outlined by an unknown person and dedicate their lives to it? What made them love this frail old man in a loin cloth and agree to follow him on the most difficult path?

Some of the answers are there, of course. He was the only man who spoke about the people and for the people, who traveled to understand the people, who lived with them and translated their pains into actionable items.

The other obvious question is Would we follow his path if it was offered to us? In a way the question is quite invalid since it is not the same world and the same circumstances. But if the situation so demanded would we be able to fight a fight the ahimsa way or does power-of-strength rule the way today? Is might right or would Gandhiji's words that 'Injustice should be made visible' the right way? Would you teach your kid to fight their battles the ahimsa way and walk the long path or the violent way and try to walk the shorter path?

Its a difficult question to answer but one worth thinking about!

Day 42 - Gandhiji

Mahatma Gandhi would have been 140 years old today if he was alive. The question of what he would have thought of today's India just does not arise as he would not have lived this long.

Even if we assume that he would have lived till a ripe old age of 100, he would have seen the India of 1969 which was still in a way the India that he fought for to give independence to. We still had the license raj and corruption was still there. His protege and favorite person - Jawaharlal Nehru - would have passed away a few years back in 1964, the Congress Party that he helped to become a guiding force would split into two factions, Indira Gandhi - grand daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru - would be the Prime Minister of India, man would land on the moon, Pele would score his 1000th goal, Concorde would have its first flight and many other things would happen in the world.

But the question to ask really is that if he would have lived to a ripe old age of 100, would we as Indians still have revered him the way we do today? It's a very difficult question to answer and one that has no right answer. Mahatma Gandhi's assasination in 1948 was so shocking and so premature for Indians that it was obvious that we raised him to a status of God. Not that this was a wrong thing to do. C'mon, let's face it - he was the most important reason we got independence in 1947 and there in lies the catch.

Mahatma Gandhi was the leader and a beacon for Indians at that time with a simple objective of getting India's independence. In the mind of Indians his main KRA was to get India independent. He was the man for that job. In 1947 that job was completed and he had attained the pinnacle of his life. What next? The running of the country had already passed on to the 'real' politicians. What was to be Gandhiji's new role in the new free India? I think that question would have haunted the new India if he would have lived long. How would we have treated Gandhiji if he had lived to be 100? Would we have revered him the way we do today or a little bit less?

My personal views are that he would have got sidelined as the running of the country would have been taken over by the politicians. His work, in the first few years, would have been to unite India and get the princely states to join India. He would probably have done a great job of that but as India would have started building herself, he would have got sidelined. Politicians would have told him that he had attained what he set out to do and that it was time for him to rest and relax, which he would not have been able to. He would have been treated like a man retired from him job and being asked by everyone to 'take it easy' when the man himself has so many thing that he can accomplish and is not ready to retire. These are my personal views.

In a way, his premature death in 1948 was like a person leaving the stage at the peak of his career. The person is always remembered as THE GREATEST and as a benchmark. The premature leaving of Gandhiji left such a void in India that it could be filled only by loving him more and by reminding ourselves of his ideals, his beliefs and his faith. As a country we did that beautifully on paper but we forgot to practice them.

With passing generations, 2nd October has become just another holiday, a dry day for some, to watch re-runs of movies like Gandhi and more recently 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' and to try and explain to our children who he was and what he stood for.

Wonder what India will do in 10 years time when it is Gandhiji's 150th birthday on 2nd October 2019. Will we be opulant and go overboard in our 'celebrations' or will we try to follow his path?

Only time will tell. I am sure Gandhiji is smiling from somewhere!