Bapuji's belongings are back here in India! After a week long speculations and controversies surrounding the auction of Gandhiji's belongings that included his wire-rimmed glasses, worn leather sandals, a pocket watch and a metal bowl and plate at New York; Vijay Mallya managed to get them back for a whooping $1.8 million.
My reaction: good, good...we have something precious to boast about. Atleast we will have some new additions in our museums. But my question is: was spending so much on Bapuji's belongings justified? I mean how many among us remember him and his principles? We scoff at his principles. 'They are just not applicable in today's times' we say. Then what's the use of keeping his personal items on display, when we can't even follow his simple principles such as Satyagraha and Ahimsa. Do we really care for what he did? Some of us blame him for having a hand in India-Pakistan's partition. Some say that he was wrong in supporting Jawaharlal Nehru instead of Sardar Vallabhai Patel by giving Jawaharlal Nehru the Prime Ministerial post, when actually Sardar Vallabhai Patel was deemed to be the ideal candidate for the post. Till date, people blame Gandhiji for his supposedly wrong political moves. Some of my friends even blame the poor leader coz it's a DRY DAY on both 2nd October (his birthday) and on 30th January (his death anniversary).
Some may argue saying that Gandhiji is still respected. They may point out to me that Lagey Raho Munnabhai had become a HUGE HIT because it had Gandhigiri in it. They may say that Gandhigiri was responsible for reviving those old Gandhian principles that had become extinct, and that people follow it now. But I believe that Gandhigiri was purely a fad that faded away with time. I don't know why but I am not too sure about how these items would be maintained? (bearing in mind the fact that Indian museums are never that well-maintained), What benefit would I or the future generation seek from these priceless articles? (I mean we will just see those belongings, listen to the curator's lecture and go away), What lessons would we gain from his glasses and watches???
As I write this blog, I am reminded of what my friend said after the 26/11 attacks. I asked him why do we never retaliate against Pakistan who continously attack our country, he calmly replied- "we will never retaliate, coz our father of the nation has given us the principle of Ahimsa. Our politicians are just following it". Hmm...point taken. Bechara Gandhiji, forget following his principles...now they are even wrongly perceived.
22 comments:
I liked your blog..its interesting.
Sunil
www.artisticmenia.blogspot.com
yaa Gandhigiri is a fad yaar.........today pple follow their own rules ........
nice post
Hmmm nice post.
Made me think of somethings... do we really need these things? I mean the statues, memorial, belongings and so called "Dry days"?
No we don't..
We need strong individuals, with a clear view of what they need to raise themselves and the society along with them. Without giving away for the temptation of corruption and without keeping quiet or avoiding the facts and truths of society.
What do we have now with us? We are always claiming that we are proud of our culture of being an Indian. Are we? Are we being true to ourselves? We celebrate our Independence Day, Republic day ... with the show of awesome power and respect. but what happens after that? We are back to our meticulous job of blaming others, other states within the sub continent, people speaking other languages, people following different spiritual or religious principles and even hurting woman just for being different.
Gandhi for me, is just another individual, but who made a difference among others, who left behind a lot of wisdom and values. So did Buddha, Jesus Christ and thousand of other individuals. But as usual we tend to exploit these teaching and values to our benefit. So the point is I don't like dwelling on some belonging or a memorial day for someone. If I feel that I need to assimilate those values, then I will do so with all my heart, without needing these objects.
Hmm.. Correcto. Instead of spending millions (9 crores in INR), the Kingfisher biggies could have done something to clean Mithi River (I called it Mithi gutter). Else do something for the POTHOLED roads.. All faltu nautankis.
@sunil, thanks for visiting this place. Keep visiting.
@AS exactly today people have their own rules...gandhigiri is mere fad
@vaisakh as u rightly pointed out, we really do not need a particular day or anything to remember such a great man. If u really respect him, follow his principles.
@rum mithi river or gutter mein mithi hee bari padi hain...even after 26/7/2005 incident...Govt sudhra nahi.
Thank you. :)
btw, new display pic looks totally cool..
Hi,
was going through my friends blogs and stumbled on yours.
liked the dichotomic thought process. Neat and well constructed. more importantly the issue you brought up is well worth for every one to ponder on. Gandhian principles might be non-existent now and the gandhigiri may not have rippled across the entire society, but the way we've been brought up and the values we've imbibed from our parents and society in general surely play a role in how we are . And lucky enough we still have the last few ounces of "good" left in us .I think the most important issue now is to bring in the new generations aligned to the principles we've been following. Its all about each individual "Thinking" "Doing" and "Acting" with some fodder in the head. I'm sure we still have hope.
After all, "umeed pe hi to duniya kaayam hai".
nice reading your blog
cheers :)
rammy
http://rammysden.blogspot.com/
@rammy,
you have put it in a beautiful way. But I would like to add something on to it.
You have suggested "most important issue now is to bring in the new generations aligned to the principles we've been following. Its all about each individual "Thinking" "Doing" and "Acting" with some fodder in the head.".
Well I dont think the new generation needs to be aligned to our thoughts. They should break free of all the constraints and restraints enforced now. They should think independantly. Today some of the root causes of the evils in society is because the thought process of some individuals are aligned. What if our next generation chooses to get aligned with that of terrorists or murderers? :D We even had dark ages because everyones thoughts and meaning of life & nature were aligned.
Jokes apart, the next generation instead of getting aligned with out principles or values, they should learn and improve them. Instead of dwelling on our mistakes, they should learn from it.
And as an endnote, instead of hoping for things to become right why don't we take a stand to make things right? Nobody is gonna make our life better for us, unless we do it.
@rammy, true some of those good values that our parents inculcated in us is what keeps the good-bad balance of our society stable. As for aligning our new generation to our thoughts,like vaisakh says we cannot really align them to our thoughts. Change is the the only constant factor of the society. With times, principles and situations changes.
@vaisakh...firstly thanks for your compliment, i guess i look like Michael Jackson :)
jokes apart, as rightly said we first must take initiative to change ourselves and the society. This in turn would bring in a change in the society automatically.
@gaya3
OMG... Michael Jackson????
Don't you think that's too much for a comparison :D...
Thanks for appreciating my comments. And keep up the good work of writing
--
Vaisakh
@gayathri and vaisakh
i was actually trying to put the same thoughts that you guys have come up with regards to change int values and perception of the now and future generations.. i just forgot to mention that we need to do away some regressive,outdone principles and ring in the new and fresh ideas.But good to see that there are so many of us who think and percieve things in a fresh and new way. prolly its now the time to channalize and use this coherent thought processes into substantial outcome.
really good to see like minded people up here :)
cheers!
rammy
Very, very true.
For our generation, Gandhian values is only confined to text books now and not at all practised in deed.
For example look at our generation's apathy towards two of Gandhi's principles "Satya (Truth) and Ahimsa (non violence). I lied to a girl and called her sexy and she slapped me in return! Bah! Is this how we go about practising Gandhi's values? Sad :-(
Bad jokes apart, this is a nice post. An honest, practical, thinking-out-loud post. I liked it. And I'm telling the truth (Are you hearing that, Bapu?)
@rammy...I am happy too to see people like you and Vaisakh agreeing with me.
@parikshith like gandhiji said: when someone hits one side of your face, show them the other side. why dint u follow that same policy for that girl. oh god
Mallya helped India to get back Bapu's belongings. What an irony! Liquor money being spent to bring back memories of a great man who always reminded the world about the ill effects of drinking habit.
Gandhiji's principle of living a simple life and being content with available resources might seem strange in the current world of EMIs but I feel his thoughts still have a lot of relevance.
Then what's the use of keeping his personal items on display, when we can't even follow his simple principles such as Satyagraha and Ahimsa.
Very true.
It's like keeping fossils for display in a museum. You tell children.. 'see these are the bones of a creature which actually walked the planet'. And then we all go home and forget about the Dino.
(well in Dino's case there is no need to remember it actually :))
Much ado about nothing!
@ajith, true...some of his teachings may still hold some relevance in the modern society, but that is relatively less.
@layman true...seeing his personal belongings is just like seeing a dino's fossils on display...listen to the curator's carefully by-hearted talks and then go back home forgetting everything.
vijay malliya and his red money.. man he buys everything...
dunno why mallya is doing all these.. first the bangalore ipl team and now this.. is he gonna be floating a new political party soon?
good one gaya3!!!
@chriz, thanks 4 visiting my blog. Yeah I guess Mallya is soon going to launch his own party. I presume his party symbol would be a beer can and his manifesto would be: king of good crimes sorry king of good nation :)
Hi Gayathri,
Being a First timer, it seems you do a cross analysis on the latest happenings ! Regarding this one, well some points you said do hold true.
I do had doubts on the relevance of the things which Gandhi had said/done, yet i feel one thing convinces me ! That, one has a choice to look at the positive/negative aspect of anything and thats what matters in the end !!
Keep sharing the invaluable thoughts :)
I don't know... I'd like to see Gandhigiri followed. Yea, maybe in today's doggie eat doggie world, it's a tough ask, but can't we be those exceptions among a million.
That diamond in the rough perhaps??
If not fine, all's fair in love and war...let's get out the Uzis and the heat seeking guided missles! :D
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