A man to remember ( and to practice??!!)/ Gandhi revisited

Recently, Lage raho munnabhai a bollywood movie had created a whole new wave about Gandhism. I happened to see the movie and as an entertainer it was nowhere near Munnabhai M.B.B.S. but I must say that I felt good at the end of the day for the message it carried (Gandhigiri). I must also confess that it had induced me to read more about Gandhi, father of our nation and a man who inspired the likes of Martin Luther king and Nelson Mandela. I started to debate within myself about his relevance in today’s world, how feasible his principles are to practice and how much those principles hold good today. Here are my thoughts………

A glimpse of Gandhism

Satya (Truth) and Ahimsa (non-violence) are two pillars of Gandhism. Brahmacharya (celibacy), Vegetarianism (rather tee-total), respect for other religions were also his main principles. Gandhi used fasting as a form of protest and to exert mental control.

Gandhigiri in 2006

I personally consider celibacy and vegetarianism are illogical in today’s context for very obvious reasons. This leaves us with the pillars of Gandhism namely Satya and Ahimsa.Are both these principles practicable?

Yes and No

On a broader context, as a nation if we start enacting laws or act based upon Gandhian principles it would mean that we are being soft towards terrorist minds and people like Mohd. Afsal guru would go unscathed. And when Pakistan makes another kargil like attempt we as ahimsa vadis will be gifting whole Kashmir to Pakistan. Likewise Ladakh and Sikkim to China, Assam to ULFA, Nagaland to Naga Rebel group which would ultimately lead to disintegration of India and she would cease to exist in the future.

But when it comes to day-to-day deeds it could certainly be inculcated in our own way. It would definitely make a world of good when it is applied in personal life and make the world a better place to live. In the society, it could be a tool to fight corruption (as in the movie), dishonesty, immorality etc., but certainly it would need a mass movement headed by a mass leader like Gandhi or wait for the great Gandhi himself (if you believe in rebirth).

Gandhi’s principles are simple yet difficult to practice. May be we can utilise his principles on as and when basis.

Finally, a quote that captivated my eyes…

“ An eye for an eye would make the whole world blind”. How true it is…

A conversation to forget!

“Okay my dear sons… That’s it! I shall see you on Thursday and many thanks for helping me. Good day!”- That’s my consultant after a hectic day in the hospital.

Rumbling noise in my tummy starts mounting every second and I decide to go for a kill straightaway. We (an Indian, a Pakistani, a Sinhalese) hit the restaurant very next moment. I get myself a plate of fries and settle at the usual table in which my name is not written. My Sinhalese colleague joins me and the Pakistani vanishes into thin air (I always suspect him for that).

(Earlier in the day my Sinhalese colleague and me were involved in an animated conversation about the problems in Srilanka,Islamic terrorism etc.,)

He restarts the conversation on the same sensitive topics as I gobble down the fries (the only edible thing in our restaurant) and start sipping my diet coke (trying to kill the pathogenic intestinal flora. ha.). I succeed in pulling him out of that conversation finally. Then it just happens….

My colleague (SE): Alright! Where are you staying?
Me: In Walnut Grove. With my friend.
SE: Oh! What’s your friend’s name?
Me: (I tell him the most common name in the world)
SE: Oh! He is a Muslim! (I could see the amused reaction in his face)
Me: Yeah!
SE: How are you adjusting with a Muslim?
Me: What do you mean by that?
SE: Are they friendly?
Me: What are you talking about? He is my Friend and I have (n) number of Islamic friends.


The discussion enters onto heated lines. One of his points is that the Islamic friends who are in Lanka support Pakistan when they play against Lanka.
I say, “I don’t know about that but it’s not the case in India”.
I tell about the amicability between religions and the secular feeling among the Indians and cite an example that the president of India is a Muslim himself and reads Gita everyday apart from doing Namaz 5 times a day.

Finally, I wouldn’t be able to convince him that Muslims are not separatists (after all the deliberations).

The end result: I reach home with a headache…

One thing that still irks me;

Why so much hatred?

A talk to remember...

A talk to remember…

At the stroke of midnight hour Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru made his historic Tryst with Destiny speech to the constituent assembly after an address by the President. Here it is...


Tryst with Destiny 14-15 August, 1947
-Jawaharlal Nehru

Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still
larger cause of humanity.At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her successes, and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future ?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom, we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now. That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we might fulfill the pledges we have so often taken and the One we shall take today. The service of lndia means the
service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.
And so we have to labour and to work and work hard to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for anyone of them to imagine that it can live apart. Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments. To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we appeal to join us' with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell. I beg to move, sir, that it be resolved that:
After the last stroke of midnight, all members of the Constituent Assembly present on this occasion, do take the following pledge:

(1)At this solemn moment, when the people of India, through suffering and sacrifice, have secured freedom, I a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, do dedicate myself in all humility to the service of India and her people to the end that this ancient land attain her rightful place in the world and make her full and willing contribution to the promotion of world peace and the welfare of mankind.
(2)Members who are not present on this occasion do take the pledge (with such verbal changes as the president may prescribe) at the time they next attend a session of the Assembly.
Reference:
Constituent Assembly Debates

Living a Lie

After years of content life the reality has finally dawned on me. It is so real a pain to know that every smile I sport, every success I celebrate, every fear I encounter, every hurt for which I bleed and those moments that bring tears are not mine. Whatever I know now was tutored by this world. Every possession that I have is from this materialistic world. Emotions that I show are copied from my brethrens. I have lost my originality the moment I started to listen and see this mundane world. Guess! The last time I cried for myself was for my hunger. Worse is I couldn’t guess the last time I smiled for myself.

What is happiness and what the devil is grief? The truth lies far beyond the extent of this universe. I am living a lie….

Infight!

Here i am! Sitting on a couch and cursing all my friends to glory for not answering my call. Amused about the state of my mood which is nothing short of rage , still i am contemplating the rationale behind it. Is it the lonliness that is killing me? or am i sick and tired of the happenings around me?Maybe it is beyond reasoning. Chuck it.. As I glance my room in search of a stuff that would relieve my suffering, i catch hold of a book. While i sift thro the pages, my eyes fix upon a quote . 'WISDOM IS FINDING INNER PEACE RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE '

I don't need more than this.