Trying To Understand

 Yet again, it is that time, rather that day, of the year! Oh, yes, on January 30, most all remember Gandhiji, or at least go through all the motions of remembrance, so as to annoy, to irritate, to vent bitter anger against the opponents, right?

Well, what I am trying to say is that Gandhiji who spent a lifetime trying for peace ends up being the point of hatred for the other(s) on the day of his death anniversary! Well, I try my level best not to get in to dirty politicking in any field. But the way the messages were pouring in on certain wapp groups, it looked as if the sympathisers of certain political parties whom Gandhiji nourished were extremely volatile and more violent than all the British oppressors put together!

If I have understood him on the basis of my read of "My Experiments with Truth", he seems to me to be always in this moment,  right here in the present. Does that mean one forgets the past? Absolutely no way! Rather one uses it to understand oneself best so as to shape a better present.

Look at his narration of the childhood mistakes, of the youthful indulgences, the experiences in Africa, for instance. In my opinion, he seems to chuckle at his earlier self, learn from it, and thus design a better today! Given such a selfhood, how would he have reacted to his professed followers' visceral hatred of the other side?

I do not know if he would be as aggressive regarding certain principles as his self-declared  followers are in their angry bashing of others. In my opinion, great thinkers rarely are rigid. Let me give you another example. I am sure Marx would  have looked at the post-LPG realities more creatively. In fact, he is so very non-dogmatic that inbuilt in his theory is its critique. In my opinion, hence, he is never outdated. His texts help us to learn anew from him.

That holds true of Gandhiji, too, I feel. In a world that is dangerously metro-sizing, it is rather pathetic to pin him down to charkha and village. In my opinion, his basic principles need a new, vibrant interpretation, a feature somehow I think he would have liked. As far as I have understood him, I do not think he took himself too very seriously so as not to relate to the current context.

Unfortunately, his 'b(r)and' followers, who are violence itself in subtle (and not so subtle, too) ways in their own professional and personal lives would cry themselves hoarse (hypocritically!?!) to show the lacunae in others! "Hey, Ram" , I suppose, he would have sighed to see them thus!

Pratima@I have always appreciated Gandhiji's self-deprecating sense of humour which was, in my opinion, extremely sharp and trenchant without being nasty!