Today is Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday in India, in honor of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. It is also commemorated as the International Day of Non Violence now [thanks for the tip RM!].
As a kid, I used to hate him, for postponing India's independence by 5 years by stopping the quit India movement after the violence. However, over the years, I have begun to appreciate the power of non-violence, and the risks of using violence as a tool for getting one's demands met. For one, violent struggle often involves killing people, and someone always survives to get back at you! There are no such risks in a non-violent struggle.
I still do not know much about the man himself, and have not seen the "Mahatma vs Gandhi" play or the movie based on it, but I _do_ like the non-violence idea. I have issued his autobiography from the library recently, and am looking forward to reading it.
One of my favorite bapu songs is दे दी हमें आज़ादी (de di humein azaadi) written by the great poet Pradeep. Here is a video for you all [lyrics in indic and roman scripts]:
Peace!
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
...and the birthday of Lal Bahadur Shastri. This humble and larger than life man is an example of greatness a common honest man in the Indian society could reach!
ReplyDelete