Mahatma Gandhi News Digest, Germany : Issue for July 31 – August 6, 2006
A lesser known Mahatma Gandhi
Deccan Herald – India – by V Shankar Charry – August 6, 2006
The book demythologises Gandhi and records the gradual emergence of his ideology as he came in contact with great thinkers of the day.
Gandhi The Agony of Arrival: The South Africa Years
Nagindas Sanghavi
Rupa, 2006, pp 441, Rs 595.
This work focuses on a period not so far treated in much detail in most biographies of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi from his youth in Kathiawar, an extremely backward region of India in the 1870s and 1890s to his stay in England where he had gone for further education and then in South Africa up to 1914. That was when his views on various matters underwent a radical change and took the shape they eventually did.
While most biographies of him tend to be hagiographies and a few go to the other extreme and are highly critical of him, this book is much more objective and balanced. It also demythologises Gandhi, something that has become essential considering some of the tales, even legends, that have grown around his personality.
The research and comparative study carried out by Nagindas Sanghavi of various works by Gandhi have shown that some of the stories relating to his life are without factual basis.
Among the works is An Autobiography or The Story of my Experiments with Truth, which has hitherto been accepted almost unquestioningly as one of the primary sources for many books about him. Professor Sanghavi has proved it to be wrong in many places. This may be because of lapses of memory or confusion due to the passage of time between the events and their recording and also as it was more of an introspective work, written with a certain objective in mind, rather than just an autobiography. The author has also drawn attention to some of Gandhi’s contradictory statements here and elsewhere.
Many of Gandhi’s ideas were influenced by the West, namely by its writers and intellectuals. Even in the case of vegetarianism, he became more convinced about various aspects of it after associating with vegetarians in Britain. His later advocacy of a simple life had its roots in the writings of Thoreau, Ruskin and Tolstoy. His interest in the deeper aspects of Hinduism also developed after reading the works of Max Muller and other western scholars.
In England he generally wore formal upper-class western attire in public. In fact he was described as almost a dandy in his choice of clothes. He was also highly enamoured of western, particularly British, ways and etiquette. When he first returned to India it is stated that he even wanted his family to wear western clothes and eat with forks and spoons.
This book reveals that Gandhi, when he was in South Africa, like other Indians there, tended to be quite contemptuous of the natives and was almost as prejudiced against them as the Whites. In fact, one of the demands of the Indians was that they, ‘a civilised people’, should not be treated as if they were at the same level as the Blacks.
The change that occurred in the personality of the later Gandhi as compared to that of the earlier one is a little short of a metamorphosis, so much so that they well could be two different individuals.
It may be mentioned that the views expressed by him in Hind Swaraj, published in 1909, are so anti-modern rather than merely anti-western that many of his admirers are not likely to find them at all acceptable.
G K Gokhale called the work, written when Gandhi was in a very depressed state soon after certain of his activities had proved futile, the product of a sick and insane mind.
The book is unfortunately marred by many mistakes. In particular, the definite article, the and less often the indefinite a are missing in numerous places and sometimes put in where they are unnecessary.
There is also inconsistency as to spellings and the capitalisation of words. The errors which in some cases could be typographical or in the editing, detract greatly from the readability of the work.
However, if it were to be re-issued after thorough editing, it should be a useful addition to the literature on Gandhi. The book has some interesting pictures.
Peace march in Mumbai to commemorate Hiroshima day
NewKerala.com – India – August 5, 2006
Mumbai: People from different walks of life today organised a peace march from Azad Maidan to Hutatma Chowk in South Mumbai to commemorate Hiroshima day.
The anti-nuclear peace march was organised by Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, NSS volunteers of 45 colleges of SNDT and Mumbai universities and Hindustani Prachar Sabha.
The march was organised to unite the people for a nuclear free world and to create social awareness among students about the holocaust of nuclear armaments.
Holding placards “we want peace” and “no more hiroshimas”, the students and others participants also took a pledge to work for a nuclear free world and international peace.
At Mani Bhavan (abode of Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai), a film was screened on atomic bomb and its effects and later a silent procession was taken out from Mani Bhavan to nearby Gawalia Tank to create an awareness among the people about ill-effects of bombs.
Song sung true
The Statesman – India – by Juthika Roy – August 6, 2006
Juthika Roy chronicles a historic meeting with the Father of the Nation
A beautiful idiom in the English language is ~ time and tide wait for none. But we fail to understand properly the supreme truth behind it. And so, we weep when we come across the sorrows and pangs of life and spill out our joy when happiness comes. This is our nature. We cannot understand how we can better our lives. For this, we require a genuine guru and ideals, through which we can seek an appropriate path at the appropriate moment.
As a child I used to listen as my mother related the many episodes in the lives of great men. She would tell me about their great lives and deeds.
Mother would say, The ideals of great men would have to be made the usherers, if one is to make ones life beautiful ~ great men like Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu and others of their ilk.
We started living in Calcutta permanently in 1930. My first disc of Bengali songs was released by the Gramaphone Company in 1934. The songs were:
Soon after, my rendition of Bengali and Hindi bhajans were released by the Gramaphone Company. Invitations started pouring from different parts of the country in for me to render bhajans. In 1939 I received the first invitation to sing bhajans at the Allahabad Conference. There, I was invited by Professor Deodhar to sing in Bombay at his municipal schools charity function. From that year onwards, I travelled to Bombay, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Rajkot and the entire of Gujarat every year.
We went to Hyderabad from Bombay in 1945 to participate in a charity programme there. That was my first visit to Hyderabad. Our stay was arranged at a swanky guest house of a renowned zamindar there. The next day, when I was preparing to rehearse with the accompanist, I heard that Sarojini Naidu had come to listen to me sing bhajans. I was as much scared as elated. Upon entering the hall I saw her sitting on a sofa; her daughter was sitting beside her. I made obeisance to her. She put her hand on my head and made me sit beside her. There was a look of surprise on her face when she saw me.
Then, she gave me some good news. Mahatma Gandhi used to listen to my songs everyday when he was jailed in Pune. He used to start his prayer meeting every morning playing discs that played my bhajans. I would have never known of these happenings. My pride and joy knew no bounds. I made obeisance to the God within myself and said, My singing of bhajans has been a great accomplishment. Im blessed.
Afterwards, Sarojini Naidu asked me if I had ever met Mahatma Gandhi. Ruefully, I said, No, that I havent had that good luck. She then said, Try to meet Bapuji and let him listen to his favourite bhajans. From then I began to try out means of meeting Bapuji.
My respect for Sarojini Naidu went up many notches. I deemed myself blessed by having her as a near one. She was courageous, a scholar, patriot and poet whom I adored from afar. I still cherish this valuable memory.
It was 1947 (sic). The country was simmering with satyagraha, civil disobedience, non-cooperation, Gandhijis Quit India movement and so on. A highly-strung atmosphere prevailed. All were on tenterhooks ~ would the British rule really end? And it really ended. But then Hindu-Muslim riots started. A shiver goes down my spine when I recall those days. No one can believe unless one sees those brutalities, murders, beastliness with ones own eyes.
Mahatma Gandhi came to Calcutta at that time to quell the situation. He put up at a house in Beliaghata with his entourage. Bapuji was so busy with his work that he did not have even one minute to spare. I heard that he would wake up every day at 6 a.m. and go out for a morning walk. He would join the prayer meeting in the morning and evening. Taking Sarojini Naidus advice, my parents decided to take me to the Beliaghata house to meet Bapuji. My mother, brothers and sisters, uncle and I reached Beliaghata at 7 a.m. We decided to have his darshan from afar during his morning walk and offer our obeisance to him. But, unfortunately, when we reached the gate we heard that Bapuji had already taken his morning walk and was resting. We would have to wait three hours if we wanted to see him. Finding no other way, we remained standing outside the gate because it had been locked by then. Many others also remained standing along with us.
The sunbeams were brilliant. But suddenly, black clouds appeared and covered the sky. It began to rain heavily. We were completely drenched. My uncle repeatedly requested the gate-keeper to let us in but the keeper kept saying, No, Bapuji hasnt ordered me to do so. But my uncle was not a man to spare any effort. He then sternly said, All right, go in and say Juthika Roy has come to meet Bapuji. The gatekeeper went in. We prayed that he would report correctly. Suddenly, we saw Manu Gandhi and some volunteers rushing towards the gate with some umbrellas. Manu Gandhi accosted me, made her obeisance and opened the gate. Come in, please, all of you. Im so sorry you are all drenched. Come inside and sit.
We all went in and took our seats. Then Ava Gandhi came and said to me, Bapuji has allowed your mother to go in with you. We went in and saw Gandhiji writing something sitting on a mat. He was bare bodied, his face and his entire body were radiating some strange light. There was no sign of tiredness on his person even after so much of work. There was a smile on her face, his eyes were shining as if they were full of love and were images of peace.
I felt it was our great good luck that for the first time we had darshan of Mahatma Gandhi. I cannot fully express how elated I was. My mother and I made obeisance to Bapuji. He touched our heads to bless us, smiled and asked us to sit down using sign language. He was observing silence on that day, saying everything in writing. Ava Gandhi was reading out his writings for us. She was of great help.
Ava Gandhi informed us that Bapuji was busy but eager to listen to my bhajans. So, he had decided that I would be singing while he was bathing in the next room. Bapuji went into the next room. I went on singing one bhajan after another without the help of any instrument. The songs were ~ Maine Chakrar rakhi ji, Main Ram nam ki churiyan pahenu, Gunghukta pat khol re, Main to wari jaun Ram, Alo main apne Ram, Matja yogi mat ja and Pyare gungut bangh Meera nachire.
Bapuji came out after having his bath and stood in front of us. I stopped singing made obeisance to him. He flashed a broad smile and blessed us by raising his hand. I said to myself that my life was blessed today, so was my singing of the bhajan. My mind was filled with bliss.
Later, Ava told us that Bapuji had asked us to join the afternoon prayer at 4 p.m. We arrived at the Maidan from the Beliaghata house soon after 4 p.m. with Bapuji to attend a prayer meeting. There was Ava Gandhi, Manu Gandhi and many others among us. The Maidan was crowded and there was not an iota of space left in the ocean of people.
The two sides of the road were also crowded. Bapujis car slowly proceeded towards the Maidan. People welcomed him by throwing flowers and petals. A large number of people were conveying their respect to Bapuji. That was an unforgettable spectacle and cannot be expressed in words ~ it can only be felt. I still remember that living picture of crested reverence and euphoria for a leader of the people.
Our car stopped next to the dais in the Maidan. Bapuji climbed on the dais quickly, flinging his arms on the shoulders of Ava and Manu. I was sitting at a corner of the dais. The prayer meeting started with Ramdhum, then readings from the Gita. Then, Bapuji appealed to people to maintain peace throughout the country. The prayer meeting ended with my singing of a bhajan.
Soon, we came to the Beliaghata house with Bapuji. A car was provided to drop us home. My long cherished ambition to see Bapuji and to see him listen to my bhajans was fulfilled. I still consider that day as an auspicious day in my life.
(Translated by Dhruba Basu, joint director of information, Press secretary, Governors Secretariat)
800 reasons for peace
The Star – Malaysia – by Alex Yap – August 5, 2006
At a time when war and conflict are dominating the headlines, Johorians have aired their opinions by penning messages expressing their hopes for peace.
Over 800 messages such as Peace is loving, Love your enemy, What use is War? Let us all work together towards peace and Eliminate war, promote peace were pasted on cardboard boxes during a peace exhibition in Johor Baru.
Around 4,200 people, including 900 school children from across Johor Baru, attended the exhibition promoting peace held by Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM), a non-governmental organization, dedicated to positive social action through culture and education.
Titled Gandhi, King, Ikeda: Building a Legacy of Peace, the exhibition focuses on the examples and principles of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, American civil rights advocate Martin Luther King and Soka Gakkai International Presi-dent Daikatsu Ikeda.
Both Gandhi and King adopted non-violence action as a means to achieve their political goals, while Ikeda has met many world leaders in promoting peace, a key part of Soka Gakkais philosophy.
The exhibition was held at the SGM Johor Centre between July 22 and 29 and is moving on to SGM branches across the country.
Exhibition committee head Andrew Tan said inviting school children to visit the exhibition was part of his organisation’s efforts to educate the young on ideals of peace and non-violence.
We believe that the key to peace is reaching out and educating the youth, as they are the next generation who can ensure a more peaceful future for the world, Tan said.
Gandhi, King and Ikeda all came from different backgrounds but all had the same aims of peace, which shows that differences of race and religion really do not matter, he added.
On July 25 students and teachers from the Tun Dr Ismail International School of Johor Baru attended the exhibition where they were given a briefing and video presentation before viewing the exhibition.
At the end of their visit the students, aged from five to eleven, were invited to leave their messages of peace, which were placed on display at the exhibition.
Student Hanif Rezal, 10, described the exhibition as re-ally good, adding that it had taught him to make peace through friendship and not to be mean to others.
Cynthia Tan, 11, said promoting peace should be a matter of action, not just words, adding Malaysia is a peaceful country and can be an example to other countries of how to live in harmony.
Teacher Sixtus Lionel said the outing to visit the exhibition was part of the International Schools policy of an open education which exposes students to different experiences.
She added: We hope that by visiting this exhibition the children will learn about using talking and dialogue to resolve their differences and apply peace in their daily lives.
Champion of the downtrodden, here and elsewhere
Mauritius Times – Mauritius – by Khemraj Bissonauth – August 4, 2006
Manilal Doctor was sent to Mauritius by Karamchand Gandhi (later Mahatma) after the former though still very young had manifested his interest in favour of the downtrodden in Fiji. Karamchand Gandhi had sensed such a need for the hapless islanders when on a chance visit here in October November 1901 lasting twenty-one days subject to the urgent call of his ship in the island.
Although as yet a young lawyer, once here in 1907, Manilal Doctor understood the pressing need of the poor and others for proper legal advice and help. He did his level best to guide them until his departure in 1911. Accordingly he initiated the line along which justice had to be seen to done to the helpless in a colony hampered by racial and other prejudices. This was particularly necessary as the majority of the early descendants of the Indian settlers were basically illiterate.
Equally Manilal Doctor found that the well-being of those of Hindu faith lay in the full establishment of the Arya Samaj movement in the island. The movement, founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in the preceding century, would promote their well-being through the teaching of Hindi, as the language would enable the initiation of the literacy of the downtrodden. As a result, their education would begin by encouraging them to learn the other languages in use in Mauritius and ultimately acquire worthwhile knowledge. Their social status too would rise.
Manilal Doctor also realized that the Arya Samaj movement could wipe out the evil instilled by the caste system itself in the country. Feeling of oneness would emerge in the divided community of the island.
Bapu not on China’s list of influential foreigners
The Times of India – India – by Saibal Dasgupta – August 6, 2006
BEIJING: Jawaharlal Nehru was merely the ‘former chairman of India National Congress’. He and Rabindranath Tagore are among the 50 foreigners who have had greatest influence in the shaping of modern China since 1840, according to a quasi-official list released in Beijing on Thursday.
Nehru is not referred to as India’s first Prime Minister. The list released by the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday, does not include Mahatma Gandhi although he is widely mentioned in school textbooks and often referred to as a saintly person.
The omission is significant because government recently allowed the establishment of the first-ever statue of the Mahatma at the elite Chaoyang park in Beijing, which is regularly visited by foreign dignitaries and China’s top leaders.
Releasing the list on Thursday, the paper said the people mentioned in it have played a major role in China’s interaction with the modern world.
“Throughout China’s time-honoured history, the era that began in 1840 was characterised with the biggest, fastest, most fierce and complicated changes.
Generally speaking, 50 of them could doubtlessly best demonstrate the epochal features that China collided with the world,” the People’s Daily said.
Tagore, who paid a controversial visit to China in 1924 in the midst of student campaign against him in Nanjing, has been described in the list as ‘one of India’s greatest poet, writer, artist as well as social activist’.
Tagore’s poems were translated in Chinese as early as 1915 and also published in the Xin Qingnian (New Youth).
Waters teaches conflict resolution in Africa
The Mining Journal – South Africa – August 2, 2006
Bill Waters of Marquette was a visiting professor from January to June in the Peace and Conflict Resolution Program at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa.
He is shown with Ela Ghandi, granddaughter of Mahatma Ghandi, in Durban. Along with teaching graduate courses at the university, Waters did training for the provincial department of corrections, local police officials and nongovernmental organizations in Johannesburg, Pretoria and other South African cities.
He and Ela Ghandi serve on the advisory board of the South African Institute of Mediation in Durban.
Waters will be returning to South Africa in September and periodically thereafter to conduct training and workshops in mediation and the use of humor in conflict situations.
Suraj Sadan’s Montreal exhibition on Gandhi
IndiaPost.com – India – August 2, 2006
MONTREAL: An exhibition of Suraj Sadan’s portraits of Mahatma Gandhi Is scheduled at the Galerie d’Arts Contemporains, in Montr?al from August 12-24. It will be an effective means of communicating the message of world peace and harmony to the new generation of Canadians.
Driven by an inner voice and urge to spread Mahatma Gandhi’s message of non-violence, peace, and social harmony through the medium of art to the new world, Suraj Sadan moved to Canada from India during the 1970s. Through his portraits of Gandhi, Sadan, however, is not content to just duplicate the physical reality of Mahatma. He rather seeks to transcend it by the strategy of symbol and metaphor in order to reach and draw upon the wellsprings of the irenic spirit of the apostle of peace.
Whenever a revelatory expansion occurs within the psyche of a sensitive person it is externalized simultaneously in the form of a work of art or literature centred on certain root symbolism. Others then are able to participate in and relate to the inner development of the visionary through the shared symbolism. The artist, in turn, crystallizes the enriched insight in his/her finished product. Sadan’s portraits of Gandhi, from the hermeneutical perspective, therefore, are not mere skin and bones. Through them the Mahatma becomes at once the emblem, signpost, messenger, and medium for world peace and harmony.
The most direct way of communication, it is said, is telepathic, i.e. directly from mind to mind in a performative or artistic setting. A less efficient way is words spoken to the other. The written word for the general public is yet another way.
Gandhi statue to be installed
KeralaOnline.com – India – August 6, 2006
Cherthala: The Mahatma Boys’ High School premises would have a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, which would be probably installed on Gandhi Jayanti day, this year.
The Mahatma High School Managing Committee here on Tuesday decided to fullfil the students’ long cherished dream of having a Gandhi statue at their school’s premises.
The committee also decided to start Gandhian study circles at Mahatma Boys’ High School, Mahatma Public School and Mahatma Girls’ High School.
Mahatma Gandhi’s friend passes away
Hindustan Times – India – August 1, 2006
Richard Symonds, a UN development worker and friend of Mahatma Gandhi, who once insisted on providing Symonds medical treatment at the Birla House in New Delhi, has died at the age of 87.
Described as one of the finest representatives of colonial Britain, Symonds was seen as a friend of the newly decolonised countries such as India, and rendered diverse humanitarian services to a variety of such countries.
Educated at Oxford, Symonds joined the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) in 1939. During World War II the FAU offered its services to the government of Bengal to help in the civil defence of Calcutta when Japan’s air force was expected to attack eastern India.
According to Symonds’ obituary in The Times, he was later invited to join the Bengal ministry of relief and rehabilitation. “Gandhi warned him that he would not find it easy to be an official person, and he was right. Yet Symonds found it a useful experience”, the obituary says.
When Symonds heard about the violence that had flared up with the partition of India in 1947 he offered his services to what had now become the Friends Service Unit in the sub-continent. He and his colleagues acted as observers of the treatment of minorities, who found themselves on either side of the newly created frontier.
Symonds went to Pakistan, his final inspection being in western Kashmir, a hazardous and exhausting trek, which ended with him being prostrated by typhoid fever.
The obituary states that Gandhi insisted on him being cared for at his base in Birla House in New Delhi, where Symonds remained for a month.
Symonds has left an engaging account of how he was visited by politicians of all kinds, all of them expressing the deepest sympathy. He remarked to Gandhi: “Now is surely the appropriate time for me to expire, for I shall never be so well regarded again.”
In the spring of 1948 Symonds was recruited to the UN Commission for India and Pakistan, which sought to find a settlement over Kashmir.
He assisted Sir Owen Dixon of Australia and used his return to the sub-continent to collect material for his first book, The Making of Pakistan (1950).
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