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From Sabarmati to Dandi... In search of Gandhi
Report by: Abhishekh KumarProgramme: Special CorrespondentTelecast: Saturday, Oct 04, 9:30Repeat Telecast: Thursday, Oct 09, 4:30
Report by: Abhishekh Kumar
Programme: Special Correspondent
Telecast: Saturday, Oct 04, 9:30
Repeat Telecast: Thursday, Oct 09, 4:30 It is not a mere journey. It is a search for Gandhi.... a quest for his vision... a pursuit of his relevance. It is unfortunate that today we are living in a world where there is a question mark on his pertinence.
Gandhi still lives in the soul of India and in its independent existence. He is the essence of what India stands for. And it was the craving to re-invent Gandhi that drew me towards that dusty path on which the Mahatma marched several decades ago. From Sabarmati to Dandi, I could feel his benevolent presence every where even in these battered times. It is here that I realised that Gandhi is not just a name in history... he is a way of life, an immortal vision. In his very life, he instituted himself as an ideology that went a long way in making India a free and self-reliant nation. On March 12, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi set out from Sabarmati with 78 followers towards Dandi. Gandhi`s march was a pilgrimage and a living sermon. It demonstrated how a pluralistic peace loving society should look like and how ideal lives should be lived. He was determined to make `salt` (namak) the symbol of freedom. Salt, the commodity that every common man could relate with, became a token of India`s determination to set itself free of British rule. British Empire had clamped heavy taxes on salt and prohibited its production by anyone but Britishers. Gandhi had his finger on the nerve of the masses. He knew that this exploitation could become the strength of his people. By his symbolic gesture of picking up salt at Dandi, he started the civil disobedience movement that sounded the death-knell for the British Raj. He made people comprehend the power of non-violence as a weapon in winning any struggle.
His transformation from Mohandas to Mahatma in the eyes of the people took place at Sabarmati Ashram. It is the most important place connected to Gandhi and his memories. A visit to this place is imperative for anyone tracking the origin of India`s freedom movement. So, in my quest of the eternal Gandhi, I landed up in the same ashram.
It is a sparse structure on the bank of River Sabarmati. Serenity and tranquility pervades the whole area. The atmosphere is in stark contrast to the tumultuous times that the state is going through.
And by no means is the ashram antiquated in its activities. It offers education as well as vocational training to children. It imbues the value of Gandhian principles and his ideology in these children. They offer a perfect example of how one can keep what is worthy in the past alive while learning the necessary nuances of the present.
The most striking feature of the ashram is the presence of two non-native girls. Lea is from America and Angelica from Germany. Both of them came to India looking for the meaning of life in the market-driven world of globalisaton. The doctrines of Gandhi sufficed their quench and the ashram proved to be the perfect place of dwelling. Now they spend their time at the ashram with these poor children, teaching them and in turn, learning the essence of living themselves.
My next stop is Gujarat Vidyapeeth. It is an extension of the ashram. The idea of parallel education was behind the inception of the Vidyapeeth. Questions of faith, tradition and their effective applicability are central to the processes of learning and teaching at the Vidyapeeth. It is courtesy this approach that fingers that handle a `Charkha` run so effectively on the keyboard as well. Gandhi established this institution with the desire of educating everybody about who they are and what they stand for.
Next, I travelled to villages on way from Sabarmati to Dandi. Interacting with locals in this area, I found out that people want to adapt to the changing times but their connection with Gandhi is also eternal. I met with an elderly Kikubhai, who is running a school for poor children, without any governmental aid. He is furthering the mission of Gandhi, of equality in society.
Gandhi always laid stress on making our villages self-sufficient. He emphasised on the need to uplift the poorest of the poor and to make them self-reliant. The people in these areas are still trying to follow that model of welfare and have been successful too. Testimony to this is the model of cooperative society in the villages of southern Gujarat. The model is enjoying abundance in this part of India and can be replicated successfully in other parts of the country as well. Throughout my journey, the one lasting impression was that Gandhi can never die. And if there are doubts on his relevance today then the folly and the loss is ours. History stands witness to the fact that the contemporary society took its time in accepting any great philosophy in its totality. Nevertheless, a painful fact that I arrived at after this journey is that all the practising Gandhians have become stoic about the furtherance of his philosophy in the future.
It is a sorry state of affairs in the land of Mahatma today. His fight for freedom and equality for all was won by him through non-violence but has been lost by us by non-adherence. The recent gruesome violence in Gujarat demeans Gandhi`s legacy.
A deep sense of anguish and pain sets in when one thinks of the metamorphosis of Gujarat into a land of intolerance and fanaticism from being the epitome of non-violence and liberation. Probably, we should look inwards and ponder upon our shortcomings and failures to find out why we as a society and a nation have lost our way?
Programme: Special Correspondent
Telecast: Saturday, Oct 04, 9:30
Repeat Telecast: Thursday, Oct 09, 4:30 It is not a mere journey. It is a search for Gandhi.... a quest for his vision... a pursuit of his relevance. It is unfortunate that today we are living in a world where there is a question mark on his pertinence.
Gandhi still lives in the soul of India and in its independent existence. He is the essence of what India stands for. And it was the craving to re-invent Gandhi that drew me towards that dusty path on which the Mahatma marched several decades ago. From Sabarmati to Dandi, I could feel his benevolent presence every where even in these battered times. It is here that I realised that Gandhi is not just a name in history... he is a way of life, an immortal vision. In his very life, he instituted himself as an ideology that went a long way in making India a free and self-reliant nation. On March 12, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi set out from Sabarmati with 78 followers towards Dandi. Gandhi`s march was a pilgrimage and a living sermon. It demonstrated how a pluralistic peace loving society should look like and how ideal lives should be lived. He was determined to make `salt` (namak) the symbol of freedom. Salt, the commodity that every common man could relate with, became a token of India`s determination to set itself free of British rule. British Empire had clamped heavy taxes on salt and prohibited its production by anyone but Britishers. Gandhi had his finger on the nerve of the masses. He knew that this exploitation could become the strength of his people. By his symbolic gesture of picking up salt at Dandi, he started the civil disobedience movement that sounded the death-knell for the British Raj. He made people comprehend the power of non-violence as a weapon in winning any struggle.
His transformation from Mohandas to Mahatma in the eyes of the people took place at Sabarmati Ashram. It is the most important place connected to Gandhi and his memories. A visit to this place is imperative for anyone tracking the origin of India`s freedom movement. So, in my quest of the eternal Gandhi, I landed up in the same ashram.
It is a sparse structure on the bank of River Sabarmati. Serenity and tranquility pervades the whole area. The atmosphere is in stark contrast to the tumultuous times that the state is going through.
And by no means is the ashram antiquated in its activities. It offers education as well as vocational training to children. It imbues the value of Gandhian principles and his ideology in these children. They offer a perfect example of how one can keep what is worthy in the past alive while learning the necessary nuances of the present.
The most striking feature of the ashram is the presence of two non-native girls. Lea is from America and Angelica from Germany. Both of them came to India looking for the meaning of life in the market-driven world of globalisaton. The doctrines of Gandhi sufficed their quench and the ashram proved to be the perfect place of dwelling. Now they spend their time at the ashram with these poor children, teaching them and in turn, learning the essence of living themselves.
My next stop is Gujarat Vidyapeeth. It is an extension of the ashram. The idea of parallel education was behind the inception of the Vidyapeeth. Questions of faith, tradition and their effective applicability are central to the processes of learning and teaching at the Vidyapeeth. It is courtesy this approach that fingers that handle a `Charkha` run so effectively on the keyboard as well. Gandhi established this institution with the desire of educating everybody about who they are and what they stand for.
Next, I travelled to villages on way from Sabarmati to Dandi. Interacting with locals in this area, I found out that people want to adapt to the changing times but their connection with Gandhi is also eternal. I met with an elderly Kikubhai, who is running a school for poor children, without any governmental aid. He is furthering the mission of Gandhi, of equality in society.
Gandhi always laid stress on making our villages self-sufficient. He emphasised on the need to uplift the poorest of the poor and to make them self-reliant. The people in these areas are still trying to follow that model of welfare and have been successful too. Testimony to this is the model of cooperative society in the villages of southern Gujarat. The model is enjoying abundance in this part of India and can be replicated successfully in other parts of the country as well. Throughout my journey, the one lasting impression was that Gandhi can never die. And if there are doubts on his relevance today then the folly and the loss is ours. History stands witness to the fact that the contemporary society took its time in accepting any great philosophy in its totality. Nevertheless, a painful fact that I arrived at after this journey is that all the practising Gandhians have become stoic about the furtherance of his philosophy in the future.
It is a sorry state of affairs in the land of Mahatma today. His fight for freedom and equality for all was won by him through non-violence but has been lost by us by non-adherence. The recent gruesome violence in Gujarat demeans Gandhi`s legacy.
A deep sense of anguish and pain sets in when one thinks of the metamorphosis of Gujarat into a land of intolerance and fanaticism from being the epitome of non-violence and liberation. Probably, we should look inwards and ponder upon our shortcomings and failures to find out why we as a society and a nation have lost our way?