Gandhi won't die !

By : Vijay Rawoot

When I was in school ,  I learned about the freedom moment of India. Naturally I never liked the chapter on non glamorous Gandhi, who was just a weak old man in the history book of Balbharati - Our great leaders. I used to think that Gandhi was such a boring person who always sounded like a coward. For such impression of his, the contributing factors were his  attire, personality and his most projected dialogue on tolerance - " If  someone slaps you on one cheek, show him the other side and ask him to slap one more...".  I never realised his funny ideology then.  In the same book we came across  Tilak, Bose, Bhagat Singh kind of leaders who were aggressive and giving British tit for tat, either with their words or through actions. And no wonder, we as school kids always liked dynamites like them. Thereon Gandhi was just a fun factor like... ' Gandhi jeb me hi accha lagata hai...', ' Majboori Ka naam Gandhi...' , ' Bapu ke desh me aisa hi hota hai....'  kind of remarks. 

Days passed by and as the trend was Engineering and Medicine, I didn't  bother reading Modern Indian history. I visited Gandhi only through the political speeches of politicians during elections campaigns. Saw him on currency notes, postal stamps  and sometimes on the election posters. On  Doordarshan I used to see him on Gandhi Jayanti , with his favaourite Vaishnav Jan To.... playing on the backdrop. On Rajghat there used to be white khadi laden politicians who had rarely practiced Gandhism in their life. But inspite of being uninterested to study this old man, it was always surprising  to see different Heads of States across the world visiting Rajghat religiously. Their India visit was never complete without laying wreath at Gandhi's Samadhi.

Then one fine day Richard Attenborough came up with his masterpiece Hollywood movie ' Gandhi '. And  that was the turning point moment to understand this bald old man cladded in couple of meters of Khadi and a stick in his hand. Since then  the image of Gandhi changed in the minds of millions of youths like me. We came to know how much courage Gandhi had shown by taking on the whites in South Africa and British in India.  Audience was shaken to watch the Police hammering Gandhi had taken during his struggle. But inspite of all physical and mental torture his mental strength was amazing. To sustain this without retaliating needed immense bravery. First time it was known to the world , how much brave warrior this man was.  

After that I came across ' My Experiments with Truth' ! Even today no person can show such courage to speak the truth about his own weaknesses. But he never gave a damn to the fear of people's opinion about his experiments. He took on British fiercely like a bravest warrior through his truth and non violence. He made non cooperation moment successful without shedding a drop of blood. Britishers were brought to their knees without counter attacking them. Not only Indians but even common man of England admired Gandhi for his height of tolerance and strength of character.

Struggles of Martin Luther King Jr. in USA , Nelson Mandela in SA and  Yan Sun Sa Ki in Myanmar were entirely inspired by the Gandhi's philosophy of Non Violence. Today entire world knows India because of Gandhi. All world leaders come and bow before his Samadhi at Rajghat. Today almost 190 countries celebrate his birthday as International Non Violence Day. Every city in India and every country in the world has his statue or road named after him. World's maximum research and literature is available on this phenomenon called Gandhi.  Even today when cold and hot war between North Korea and USA gaining momentumm , only Gandhi's teachings can save the world. 

Gandhi was shot dead by an extremist mentality. Even after his death many people tried to kill him again and again. They attempted through hate speeches, vilifying him through plays, false propoganda, through abuses on social media but this half naked old man is still alive. Everyday he is gathering more and more followers across the world. No Indian leader is accepted on the world stage if he ignores Gandhi. Magic of Gandhi has remained  intact inspite of  pumping bullets in his chest  seventy years back.

But one thing is sure - Gandhi will never die !