You must have read that famous Sanskrit "subhashitam", quote of the quotes, which asserts, "arasikeshu kavitva nivedanam, shirasi ma likh, ma likh, ma likh". With a triple negation underlining his total denial of a horrible fate, the anonymous poet explains this unenviable destiny which consists of "explaining poetic truths to an insensitive person".
As a lecturer in English language and literature, one has to often face this soul sullying task, namely, making listless, cynical students learn, if possible, like literary texts. One such trial for me was teaching an excerpt from Gandhiji's "My Experiments with Truth" to F.Y. B. Com Additional English students. Most of them were from extremely rich families. For them, English was a compulsory subject to be finished off, surely not to be taken seriously.
How to make them take Gandhi seriously? So what i did was i made them discuss some typical youthful mistakes, doing drugs, drinking, et al. I made them realise that the monies for these indulgences would come from Daddy Dearest's wallet, and yet the stigma would be such that none of them would own up the sins in public. Then we discussed how possibly one should go about admitting such fringe indulgences. Finally, we began with the actual text wherein I showed them how Gandhiji admitted his mistakes truthfully, was open to correction thereof, et al
Once the transparent and genuine quality of the Gandhi text was thus clear, the rest of the lecture was a miracle, a joy. Most students loved the text as we compared and contrasted it with the facile glib narration in the "Munnabahai" film. Such was the interest thus garnered in the subject that throughout an entire semester, some students did not bunk a single lecture! Hail, Gandhiji! Long live his simple, thought provoking, sensible writing!
Pratima@ Truth and an appeal to the conscience form the real Satyagraha. Thus begins the search for the real ahimsa .
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