I was reading books about African American leaders for my daughter, that she got from school as part of her home. There were books about Barack Obama and Martin Luther King. Both of them consider Mahatma Gandhi as their hero.
That made me to recall that when I was in elementary school, I never visualized Mahatma as a Hero. My grand father was a true Gandhian and he was nick named as “Shadnagar Gandhi” - Shadnagar is the province of my native village. As a child, I had few negative influences about Gandhi.
At our native home we had a unique poster of a huge tree with all the Indian Freedom fighters’ faces as leaves, fruits, branches and trunk of tree. It had numerous faces which were not very popular as ‘Captain Lakshmi’. At the center of the tree was of course Mahatma Gandhi.
Once in a while my cousins used to admire that picture, going through all the faces and reading their names. Every time we used to either hate or curse Gandhi, for being in the center of the tree. Not sure, how we ended up with that thought, but we used to think that Gandhi was bad for India. May be as a kid we were just following the leader in the group. It was always Bhagath Singh and Bose that we admired as Heroes. Of course , even as of today that admiration did not diminish.
During that time we never understood the meaning of ‘Hero’. Was it because of Tollywood effect? May be or May be not. Because most of fairy tales were also involved of fighting with enemy rather than making peace with it.
I was almost in high school, to realize that, it is not Gandhi’s decision on partition that made him a Mahatma, but, it was all about his principles and binding to them, and his simple life. One of my English lessons in high school was about Gandhi’s last day. I remember my teacher mentioning that who would say ‘Hey Ram’ when he gets shot from a bullet? Gandhi dint say ‘Aah’ or any other word that an average man would otherwise utter, but it was ‘Hey Ram’ in a very mild tone. We don’t hear any complain or pain in the way those words are uttered. No ordinary man can act like that.
I am glad that, today I could make my child see as why Gandhi has to be a hero. And thanks to the brilliant Hollywood movie ‘Gandhi’. And thanks to all those books out there which are making
parents and kids to think and wonder.
That made me to recall that when I was in elementary school, I never visualized Mahatma as a Hero. My grand father was a true Gandhian and he was nick named as “Shadnagar Gandhi” - Shadnagar is the province of my native village. As a child, I had few negative influences about Gandhi.
At our native home we had a unique poster of a huge tree with all the Indian Freedom fighters’ faces as leaves, fruits, branches and trunk of tree. It had numerous faces which were not very popular as ‘Captain Lakshmi’. At the center of the tree was of course Mahatma Gandhi.
Once in a while my cousins used to admire that picture, going through all the faces and reading their names. Every time we used to either hate or curse Gandhi, for being in the center of the tree. Not sure, how we ended up with that thought, but we used to think that Gandhi was bad for India. May be as a kid we were just following the leader in the group. It was always Bhagath Singh and Bose that we admired as Heroes. Of course , even as of today that admiration did not diminish.
During that time we never understood the meaning of ‘Hero’. Was it because of Tollywood effect? May be or May be not. Because most of fairy tales were also involved of fighting with enemy rather than making peace with it.
I was almost in high school, to realize that, it is not Gandhi’s decision on partition that made him a Mahatma, but, it was all about his principles and binding to them, and his simple life. One of my English lessons in high school was about Gandhi’s last day. I remember my teacher mentioning that who would say ‘Hey Ram’ when he gets shot from a bullet? Gandhi dint say ‘Aah’ or any other word that an average man would otherwise utter, but it was ‘Hey Ram’ in a very mild tone. We don’t hear any complain or pain in the way those words are uttered. No ordinary man can act like that.
I am glad that, today I could make my child see as why Gandhi has to be a hero. And thanks to the brilliant Hollywood movie ‘Gandhi’. And thanks to all those books out there which are making
parents and kids to think and wonder.
