A LONG, LONG WAY TO GO
“The greatness of
humanity is not in being human,
but in being humane.”
I
have written about, my idol, Mahatma Gandhi, so many times before. One of the
reasons, why I revere him so much, is, because, he constantly pricks my
conscience. He was a social reformer and not a power-hungry politician. That’s
why, it’s difficult – almost impossible – for most of us to live with the kind
of moral integrity, honesty, courage and, above all, the simplicity of Gandhi…
No wonder, we call him ‘the Mahatma’!
When Gandhi
returned from South Africa, many Congress leaders of the time wanted him to join
the freedom struggle. One of the earliest observations he had made was the
utter disconnect between the leaders’ lifestyles and the Indian masses’
lifestyles. He quickly realized, that the real India was made of poor people… No
clothes, no food, no medicines, no schools, no sanitation and a hundred kinds
of social ills … That was the sad story all across the length and breadth of
his country, whose freedom was being sought from the British rulers. Gandhi
knew how important the freedom from the foreign rule was. But, he knew, how
even more important it was for all the freedom leaders to identify themselves with
poor masses. So, before taking the plunge into the political freedom struggle, Gandhi
spent a great deal of time travelling all over the country… the interiors of
India, where India truly lived. He got rid of his western attire and literally covered
himself with loin cloth… Yes, he became half-naked. He lived in his ashram,
spun his own clothes, ate what was needed to survive… saved no money, leave
alone craving for it… He knew, that if he had to fight for his fellow-citizen’s
freedom, he had to first become one like them – ‘Poor’!
The rest is our Nation’s
history!
When Swami Vivekananda went to Chicago to represent his Hindu brothers and sisters here, it
is said, that he refused to sleep on his hotel bed… “How can I get sleep on
this bed when millions of my brothers and sisters sleep on floor back home?”
This kind of
social conscience is long dead! A Gandhi and a Vivekananda come on this planet like Comets come in the sky… one in centuries!
Well,
why am I remembering, this early morning, my two idols?
Because, this sad
reality of my country – the one founded on the ethos of Mahatma Gandhi and
Swami Vivekananda – is pricking my conscience… It doesn’t allow me to sleep:
More than seven
decades after getting freedom from the British, can we, with an honest heart,
say – ‘We are free’?
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: www.indiatoday.in
Video: 1. Shrikant Govindarajan/Gandh movie 2. NDTV India 3. Amrutha Varshini/ Life of Pi movie
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