Disecting Gandhi & Gandhigiri

First of all, I am happy that 2nd October-the birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, is going to be International Non-Violence day. Gandhiji who is also the father of the nation of India, was a remarkeble but often lawyer, philopher, visionory, liberal, politician, leader, freedom fighter, sage all in one from the pious land of India in case you live under a rock and don't know about him. It is naturally a public holiday through out India, and sadly, to most Indians, this is all Gandhi Jayanti means, a public holiday. There are many who even criticize his philosophy supplying adjectives like fanciful, idealistic, naive, and immature and yet these people in a de-facto or auto-pilot kind of way or for lack of a better word, cowardice also are living his philosophy, these are the people who put up with a lot of crap that they are meted out by fellow men & women but can not oppose the opression because they don't have the guts to fight, they wish they were braver and this makes them give such remarks.

There are also many who claim to be 'believers' in Gandhi's philosophy and if the media and the politicians together would be imagined as single individuals, the media and the politicians are one of them. But these are the people who cheat, deceive, con, threaten, murder, philander to get their way. What they are saying is 'do as I say and not as I do', news journalists will stoop to any levels to get the TRP ratings even fabricate artificial 'sting' operations with the help of paid actors which ultimately ruins the life of their victims but sets the journalist on a course to career success. The case of a Professor in Allahabad recently who was falsely accused of demanding sexual favors by a female student who had been payed by the journalist is a case in point. The journalist here crossed a very vital ethical line! as for politicians, nothing needs to be said ;)

Returning to Gandhiji, hate him or love him, respect him or consider him a fool, the man always invokes strong reactions. Why is that? well, in my view, it is simply because what he proposed as a means of fighting injustice (Ahimsa or a path of total non-violence) is simply not feasible for even the most sagely men of this world to do in a practical & realistic sense. But the ways of Ahimsa simultaneously, have the power to seduce society into believing that the unattainable dream of perfect & synchronous harmony in society as a whole is indeed possible. It's like that beautiful person who blows your sensibilities away, has you itching for her/his love, makes you forget everything else. But alas, you can't get her/him because they are out of react. Yet, resigning yourself to the fact that your Adored One would never see you in the way you see them, holds such pains as to crush a man's soul. Yes, it's like un-requited love, no matter how much you love the dream, the dream won't love you back!

Gandhiji may have understood this but I am not sure. But the guy sure did try! Religion was his refuge, he often admitted that he heavily borrowed his principles from the Bible and later from other sacred texts like Bhagwad Geeta. I am not a Christian and have not read the bible but if I am not wrong, the bible does mention that in the begining when God created the universe, Satan (Devil) and his followers argued that God should create a perfect world where everything is in balance and everything is perfect. But God chose to create an im-Perfect universe. God understood in order for us to understand life, we would have to experience tragedy and even death. This will raise an eyebrow or two I’m sure. But here, it should be pointed out that since the beginning of time, human societies have never been without strife, conflict and oppression which does not mean that men have not tried to end it at all, on the contrary countless people through out history have tried and failed miserably to restore the world to it's 'idealistic' or 'paradisaical' beginnings. Gandhiji was another one of them. He was a highly educated man, with a scientific and logical bent of mind but I wonder what made him do what he did and at least to me it appears that Gandhiji was taking drugs, especially, Ecstasy (MMDA), the way, he felt about the conditions at the time are very similar to the way somebody on Ecstacy may feel. (Ecstacy has been around since the 1930's in case you are doubting it was around at the time) The level of his Compassion, empathy and love was truly extra-ordinary, perhaps his miracle drug was God, perhaps it was his higher powers, or perhaps it was something else he was smoking ;) But what is important is that he did not give up on his love, and loved it till the very end... Truly an inspiration to the youth!