My 150th Blog and Mahatma Gandhi's 65th death anniversary

This is my 150th blog article and tomorrow is Mahatma Gandhi's 65th death Anniversary.  What more profound subject could I have asked for to write my 150th blog.  

Mahatma, who is the Father of India, is often misunderstood and misquoted by my generation as well as the young ones who don't even know what freedom is or what it means.  They will never understand how it felt to be slaves of unknown colonial ruler ruling us for over 89 years from 1858 to 14th August 1947.

Years before I was born, when India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were in the shackles of British rule or Raj as it was called then, Indians were living in abject slavery, ruled by the alien rulers.  In this era rose a gentleman named MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI.  

You can get plenty of research materials and articles of Mahatma over net, in you library and in our school books.  But alas not everybody in India recognises the true spirit of Mahatma, it took foreigners like Time magazine to adjudge the Mahatma to be the 'Person of the Century' after Albert Einstein.    

Why he was never awarded a Nobel Peace Prize is still a hotly debated subject among scholars and intellectuals alike, Indian and foreign etal. though he was nominated 5 times from 1937 to 1948.  

What made Mr.Gandhi the Mahatma.  Mahatma in Sanskrit mean one whose soul (atma) has risen above the ordinary mortals like us.  the honorific Mahatma given to him in 1914 by another great Indian Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.  It is often said that it takes a great man to identify other one, so true.

One of the only exponents of Satya or Truth in India, Mahatma showed us what it takes to be a truthful person through out one's life.  Imagine how difficult it must have been for Mahatma to stay on the path of truth his entire life when, in modern era we, including me, cannot live for a second without a lie.

Mahatma has often been accused by some Indians as being Pakistan friendly or Muslim friendly and gifting Pakistan some crores.   

Has any of these tried to interpret the situation, in Mahatma's shoes.  At that time all people of Indian subcontinent were like children to him.  So imagine if you are a father and you have four children, they grow up and want live separately.  What will you do?  You will help and support your children to stand up on their own feet.  This is what Mahatma did! What is wrong with that.  

Don't forget, nations are made by humans and destroyed by maniacs.  It took just one megalomaniac Nazi to kill 7 million Jews.  God never created nations. By race we all are similar, maybe by religion we differ but our genetics belong to the same family.  

There is only one thing I wish Mahatma wouldn't have done, that is asking Sardar to withdraw his name from Prime Ministerial candidate.  He whispered something in Sardar's ears and Sardar, who was a true follower of Mahatma, immediately withdrew his name.  Thus Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India.  It is totally hypothetical to imagine where we would be, had Sardar become the first Prime Minister of Independent India.  

Maybe he had willed Sardar to become the 2nd Prime Minister, this nobody can know for he was killed by religious zealots before truth could be known.

My homage to the Mahatma, who often spoke through deeds rather than words, who gave us our freedom, taught the world that you can win anything if your goal is right and you want to accomplish it peacefully.

In a nation where Mahatma has just become the face of 500 rupee note and his anniversary, a tipplers bane for being dry day (day when alcohol is banned),  we should, in which ever way possible try to walk the path he taught us.  

Hope you like my article, this are my personal views and you may comment by either agreeing or disagreeing with it.  After all we are living in a Democracy which was gifted to us by Mahatma!

Vijay Prabhu