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Saturday 13 September 2008
Friday 12 September 2008
The Enigmatic Man
For those of you seeking a wacky superhero or anything of the like, am sorry to have raised your expectations, for this is a very serious and heartfelt post for the one human being I have had my greatest respect for. This post is a few more lines on The Mahatma.
To me, Gandhiji is one the most enigmatic personalities to have ever been born. Even with a superficial knowledge of his life, one can see that Gandhiji had evolved to become the Mahatma that we know him to be today from very ordinary beginnings. He wasn't a child prodigy who attained a more elevated state of thinking instantly by merely sitting under a tree or by the means of divine messages and such. His road to elevation is one of observation, experimentation and learning through personal experiences. I would like to bring to notice one of his more celebrated, yet lesser recollected achievements, popularly known as the miracle of Kolkata.
Post independence partition saw two major states affected by the worst human misdoings. One being Punjab and the other, Bengal. Lord Mountbatten stationed 55,000 armed soldiers in Punjab while pleading with Gandhi to control Bengal, single handed. We all know the result of what happened in Punjab, while Bengal's result was the miracle.
"What is interesting and important is the manner in which this miracle was performed. He did not go around the streets of Kolkata, he hardly met anyone or made speeches. He accomplished what he wanted by his mere presence and his prayer meetings. And what accomplishments these were! When he arrived in Kolkata, he was greeted by a howling, jeering, cursing mob. In 24 hours’ time, the ‘goondas’ had sheathed their daggers and both communities joined together for the flag-hoisting ceremonies. In a week’s time, attendance at the prayer meetings had jumped to 100,000 people: “lining roof tops, hanging from windows, clustered on balconies”. Within two weeks, there were almost a million. When, on August 31, the peace was broken by the action of some goondas, he did not tour Kolkata trying to implore people not to join in the bloodbath. Instead, he went on a fast, saying, “I am searching deep within myself. In that, silence helps.” Within three days, several gangs of goondas came to Gandhi’s Beliaghata residence and voluntarily surrendered what amounted to a huge pile of grenades, automatic rifles, pistols, knives and other deadly weaponry. It seems obvious to me that the contact he had established with the people of Kolkata, in particular the goondas, was of an intimate and internal, not of a superficial and external, kind." - TS Ananthu
It pains me greatly that such a person receives not the respect he truly deserves, which is not quantifiable by any material means what so ever. Instead, I see a generation with a considerable mass actually accusing Gandhiji of various adulterous acts with grounds as firm as the surface of the thinnest oils, and live in a country ruled by unscrupulous money makers using his name as means for power and wealth.
I have nothing much else to add. The quote speaks for itself. I would be very happy to send my source to anyone who wishes to know.
I'll end with this well known quote by Einstein that encapsules the Enigma that was Gandhi. It seems remarkable to me as to how prophetic Einstein was when he said this.
"Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth. "- Albert Einstein
To me, Gandhiji is one the most enigmatic personalities to have ever been born. Even with a superficial knowledge of his life, one can see that Gandhiji had evolved to become the Mahatma that we know him to be today from very ordinary beginnings. He wasn't a child prodigy who attained a more elevated state of thinking instantly by merely sitting under a tree or by the means of divine messages and such. His road to elevation is one of observation, experimentation and learning through personal experiences. I would like to bring to notice one of his more celebrated, yet lesser recollected achievements, popularly known as the miracle of Kolkata.
Post independence partition saw two major states affected by the worst human misdoings. One being Punjab and the other, Bengal. Lord Mountbatten stationed 55,000 armed soldiers in Punjab while pleading with Gandhi to control Bengal, single handed. We all know the result of what happened in Punjab, while Bengal's result was the miracle.
"What is interesting and important is the manner in which this miracle was performed. He did not go around the streets of Kolkata, he hardly met anyone or made speeches. He accomplished what he wanted by his mere presence and his prayer meetings. And what accomplishments these were! When he arrived in Kolkata, he was greeted by a howling, jeering, cursing mob. In 24 hours’ time, the ‘goondas’ had sheathed their daggers and both communities joined together for the flag-hoisting ceremonies. In a week’s time, attendance at the prayer meetings had jumped to 100,000 people: “lining roof tops, hanging from windows, clustered on balconies”. Within two weeks, there were almost a million. When, on August 31, the peace was broken by the action of some goondas, he did not tour Kolkata trying to implore people not to join in the bloodbath. Instead, he went on a fast, saying, “I am searching deep within myself. In that, silence helps.” Within three days, several gangs of goondas came to Gandhi’s Beliaghata residence and voluntarily surrendered what amounted to a huge pile of grenades, automatic rifles, pistols, knives and other deadly weaponry. It seems obvious to me that the contact he had established with the people of Kolkata, in particular the goondas, was of an intimate and internal, not of a superficial and external, kind." - TS Ananthu
It pains me greatly that such a person receives not the respect he truly deserves, which is not quantifiable by any material means what so ever. Instead, I see a generation with a considerable mass actually accusing Gandhiji of various adulterous acts with grounds as firm as the surface of the thinnest oils, and live in a country ruled by unscrupulous money makers using his name as means for power and wealth.
I have nothing much else to add. The quote speaks for itself. I would be very happy to send my source to anyone who wishes to know.
I'll end with this well known quote by Einstein that encapsules the Enigma that was Gandhi. It seems remarkable to me as to how prophetic Einstein was when he said this.
"Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth. "- Albert Einstein
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