“Generations to come would scarce believe that such a one as this, ever in flesh and blood, walked upon this earth.”
- Albert Einstein on Mahatma Gandhi’s Funeral
Mohandas Gandhi was a great man.
Period
And I am not discussing this any further.
Too many lunch time discussions have been dedicated to harping about these poor souls of India whose only fault was to have it in them to be considered a worthy life the world over. What baffles me is when the entire human race is willing to see these men for what they stood for, why do some of us find it so difficult to appreciate their existence amongst us.
If we were to judge the greatness of a person on the basis of how indulgent a life they lived, or, how much they gave in to material pleasures, then we would have to strike off half our list of great people. And we would probably lose out on the most important ones when we do that! I don’t really think that should even be one of the criteria. You don’t have to be an ascetic to be great.
Besides, every great man has after all been constrained by the time that he lived in. Aristotle could have probably changed the face of this world and the entire course of human history from what he taught, had it not been for the time he existed in. Alexander could have been a master strategist for making the world a much better place for humans, but his time taught him only to win battles. All great men ended up submitting to the era in which they walked this planet. We cannot blame one person for an incidence of history that was the result of a host factors that were playing in that time.
Mahatma Gandhi gave to this world the amazing concept of passive resistance. And his life influenced many more great people such as Martin Luther King, Jr. , Nelson Mandela and Suu Kyi. Probably that should be the only litmus test for judging greatness of a human being. And going by that, I feel that he more than deserves the place in history that he has been accorded. Only we have to open our minds before we pass our judgments.
And while at it, let’s be fair to Nehru as well. Everything that makes us proud of being Indian today is in a way gifted to us by his great vision. But I guess most of our folks will take a while before they appreciate this. Till then, I choose to give these discussions nothing more than a passing smile.
5 comments:
hmm..so the take away point is ..you can still indulge in all the good, party, have fun , enjoy & still be 'great' .. .. Well both of us have done the first part here ..only the latter one is left ..bein the great one wala..;) .. rather its left fr the world to discover :)
{i hope they discover our greatness soon , Don;t wan't to pictured in the same category as -'gr8 ones are never appreciated in their own times' ..!! :D
Agree toit word by word.. resonating my thoughts...
My mom n dad always said that the mystique that shrouds the story of Ramayan or Mahabharat.. and the unbelievable stories of the epic... is looked as unbelievable coz it occurred centuries ago... Same would happen for Mahatma Gandhi... He is already mocked and criticized upon by people of our generation coz our generation is too smart to respect even one principle spread by the Mahatma lest follow any...
My dad n mom have been influenced by Mahatma a lot and they keep telling me stories, snippets from his life.. and I enjoy it...
@Puntu - Loved ur comment man! yaa.. we r at it with the first part. Time will tell people abd the second one:)
@Bhabhi - I agree. Gandhiji's popularity has increased exponentially after his death. Centuries from now, it will not be a surprise if people will still look up to his ideals. The way we look up to Ram's.. and especially Krishna's too :)
@Abhinav - Thanks for your comment. Well if I start debating Nehru's greatness here, it will not be fair to what I have written in my own blog :) But I do suggest you to read (if you've not already) 'Discovery of India' by Nehru And 'Nehru' by Benjamin Zachariah.. Or else, read Shashi Tharoor on Nehru's politics. These works are around 3 contributions of Nehru to India:
1. Democratic ideal
2. HR Capacity Building, and
3. International Relations and self sufficiency (the whole Nehruvian Socailism)
After these if you still think Nehru's contribution to India is not worth much, then lets agree to disagree :)
But do keep visiting and commenting :))
Oye! Tu political kab se ho gaya re.. Kuch to uncommon rehne de!
Anyways, I guess Gandhi was the most enigmatic person of recent times. He wasn't a great orator, still all he needed to do to stop riots was to stand and look at the people. Its incredible what all he did. And its not just about his struggle for freedom. Its more how he envisaged an Indian society free of prejudice. Just a small irony that his family couldn't relate to him.. but then he too was human..
On Nehru, am not so sure. I guess his 5yr plans have only led to more n more corruption w/o ne results, his decision to engage with Russia has not led us far. But yes, better than having military junta rule us for sure :)
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