Mahatma Gandhi News Digest, Germany : Issue for October 23 – 29, 2006
PBS picks up show on Gandhi, King
Rediff.com – India – by Suman Guha Mozumder – October 25, 2006
An artistic rendition of the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Martin Luther King Jr by a premier Indian cultural organisation of Southfield, Michigan, is getting unprecedented public attention there.
Last week, people in Toledo paid up to $250 for a ticket to watch the 90-minute multi-media presentation christened Ahimsa: The Path of Peace, an acclaimed production by Nadanta, one of the premier artistic and cultural organisations in the area, founded in 1980 to preserve and promote Indian culture through dance.
The recital that featured about 35 performers, all from the Detroit area, included dance and music as well as a dialogue between two fictitious characters called Himsa and Ahimsa, representing violence and non-violence respectively.
“I tied these two great figures [Gandhi and King] with [the] two spirits. A dialogue between Ahimsa and Himsa sets the stage to present their [Gandhi’s and King’s] work and events in their life,” Chaula Thacker, artistic director of Nadanta and the individual responsible for the production, told rediff India Abroad.
PBS Detroit recorded the program live this August.
“As more and more people come to know of this program, we are being flooded with requests for shows. We are already slated to perform in January in Michigan during the Martin Luther King celebration and during the Jain convention in July in Edison, New Jersey,” said Bharat Thacker, co-founder of the group and Chaula’s husband.
The October 1 show the Hindu temple organised in Toledo raised over $30,000 for an annual lecture series on Gandhi at the University of Toledo, he said.
Much of Nadanta’s early work was focused on introducing young people of Asian-Indian origin born and brought up in North America to the dance traditions of their homeland. This effort led to participation in ethnic dance competitions, in which Nadanta has earned more than 100 trophies and awards including multiple national championships across North America. Later, the group developed a second set of independently produced programs they presented at different places in the Southeastern Michigan communities where most of the participants lived.
The result was a series of increasingly sophisticated and critically acclaimed presentations, including Bharat 2000; Shiksha ? Teachings of Buddha and Megh Dhanush ? Six Seasons of India, all of which laid the groundwork for Himsa and Ahimsa in 2005.
“Ahimsa was a very ambitious step for us,” said Chaula. It was the first time Nadanta had ventured outside its historical focus on Indian culture to present a theme that while originating in India, had grown to be truly global in scope, she said.
“It was a tremendous challenge and its success created a tremendous opportunity as well. Now, by moving Ahimsa from the stage to the airwaves, we will be able to reach many more people and organisations who share a common commitment to non-violence,” she said.
“It is our hope that, together, we can begin to build something new and exciting, and bring the vital message that change is possible through peaceful means to people here and around the world. That’s what Gandhiji and Dr King did, and it’s humbling, but also exciting, to play a small part in furthering their work,” said Chaula, who has taught dance courses at the Wayne State University and Oakland University and has performed before audiences in India, US, Canada, the former Soviet Union, Denmark, Spain and Australia.
Throughout its journey Nadanta has received support from many governmental and private sources, including the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Southfield, Michigan, as well the Ford Company.
Bharat said while typically most ethnic organisations try to showcase their cultures through food, clothes and artistic traditions, Nadanta feels a better way to preserve culture and promote it is to make things part of the mainstream culture.
“One can talk about Gandhi and King endlessly but one needs to have their teachings put in proper perspective because what Gandhi and King did were done in two different times and two different surroundings although their ideas were similar. We wanted to make sure that people understand that point,” he said.
“As an artist and choreographer I think about what kind of artistic creation would be fun to do, challenging and have useful message to the community. This theme was also going to educate the young artists about our history. Several different ideas went through my mind over a period of time but this one stayed and grew over a period of time,” Chaula said in response to a question as to how the idea come about.
Bharat said, in addition to PBS, which recorded the program last month, the BBC had also shown an interest to air the show.
“While PBS would have the US rights for the broadcast, we have retained the international rights so we can showcase the program abroad. In fact, we are planning to take it to India in the future,” he said.
Shabana receives International Gandhi Peace Prize
Outlook – India – by H.S. Rao – October 26, 2006
Versatile Bollywood actress and social activist Shabana Azmi today depricated as “unjust and untrue” the tendency of equating Islam with terrorism as she received the prestigious International Gandhi Peace Prize from her hero for many years, British actress Vanessa Redgrave.
Recieving the award at the House of Commons in the presence of a distiguished gathering, Azmi said, “terrorism is being equated with Islam – This is both unjust and untrue. Myths are being perpetuated in the name of religion.”
Islam, she said, is not a monolith. “Islam resides in more than 50 countries in the world and takes on the culture of the co untry in which it resides. So it is tolerant in some, liberal in some, extremist in others.
“The fight today cannot be between the Christian and the Muslim, the fight cannot be between the Hindu and the Muslim- the fight needs to be between ideologies -the ideologies of the liberal versus the ideologies of the extremist. The liberal Muslim, Christian, Hindu on the same side against the extremist Muslim, Christian, Hindu on the other,” Azmi said in her Gandhi Memorial Lecture ‘Non-Violence Is Possible’.
Azmi, who was chosen for the award for her work among the disadvantaged women in India, particularly in Mumabi slums, also talked about the communal violence in Gujarat and said victims were still awaiting for justice.
Among those present at the function were Indian High Commissioner Kamalesh Sharma and Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics.
Azmi said she felt humbled in being linked even in a remote symbolic way with Mahatma Gandhi, whose name the award carries.
“I am truly overwhelmed and humbled to receive the covetous award. My joy on this occasion has been doubled because Vanessa Redgrave, who has been my hero for many years, both as an actress of immeasurable talent and a woman of tremendous courage who has stuck her neck out of for her political convictions and issues of human rights and social justice, has consented to give me the Award,” she said.
She described Gandhi as the apostle of love and noted that the Mahatma, however, succumbed to a lethal bullet and his death ironically symbolised what has been the tragic history of non-violence.
“In India, we earned our freedom through non-violent passive resistance taught to us by the Father of the Nation but it is also a chilling fact that the land of his birth, Gujarat witnessed the worst communal violence in the year 2000 and the victims are still awaiting justice,” she said.
“Non-violent practitioners have faced mortal blows but the method itself remains immortal; for nonviolence to succeed it has to rise from its death, not once but again and again and yet again.”
“Never before has it been so true than the present time, when on the one hand, the world is becoming a global village, on the other the schisms between people and nations are becoming wider.”
Azmi said that today, the world suffered from angst and anxiety, probably worse than ever before in human history.
“We have accumulated enough destructive power to annihilate the whole human species.”
Gandhi Still Rocks – Audio
Wnyc.org – USA – October 24, 2006
London, Oct 21 (IANS) Reverend Murray Rogers, who was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s associate C.F. Andrews and set up the Jyotiniketan Ashram in Kareli in Uttar Pradesh, has died at the age of 89.
We look at how 100th anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of peaceful resistance — known as “Satyagraha” — is being marked this year in musical tributes.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Mohandas Gandhis non-violent, civil disobedience movement. His philosophy of non-violence has inspired both Bollywood films and Indian classical music. We explore the music with culture writer Siddhartha Mitter and Indian sarod virtuoso and composer Amjad Ali Khan.
Brazilian interest in Mahatma Gandhi
Blogspot.com – October 27, 2006
The interest is not for fashion nor induced by Munnabhai film
Palas Athena, a NGO from Sao Paulo has been disseminating Gandhiji’s ideals in Brazil seriously and sincerely. They have been organising week-long celebrations of Gandhi Jayanthi for the last 25 yrs. Not just by way of garlanding the statue or formal speeches.They go to street children, teachers, schools, NGOs and police besides intellectuals with community activities. They inculcate in young minds the spirit of non-violence and peace.
Here is the report I have got from Lia Diskin, the director of Palas Athena about this year’s 2 oct activity.
“We are still intoxicated by the 25th Gandhi Week. The name is Week but in truth it takes up the month of October as a whole. This year we managed to include some of the 150 activities in 11 of the FEBEM ( juvenile prisons) units of São Paulo. These are places where young law-breakers are kept until they come of age. Our volunteers show a film on Gandhi and then discuss it with the inmates. These experiences have been very good and light up our hopes”.
The force behind these Gandhian interest and activities is Lia Diskin, director of Associação Palas Athena. I have the greatest admiration and respect for her selfless public work. She is a true Gandhian in belief and practice both in private and public life.
Palas Athena had organised a Gandhi project with the 80000 police force of sao paulo state in 1998 to calm down the police mind and instill compassion in them.
The auditorium of Palas Athena is named after Mahatma Gandhi. Palas Athena runs a orphanage called as House of Pandavas. They have translated and published the autobiography of Gandhi in Portuguese.
Information on the Gandhian activities of Palas Athena are in http://www.palasathena.org/
Shabana Azmi, the Activist, the Darling of Underclasses and the Actor
IndiaTimes – India – by Palash Biswas – October 28, 2006
The news fills my heart with joy as we the Indians concerned with underclasses do love her as she is an activist who fights for the underclasses, persecuted by the ruling classes of this subcontinent. Yes,Versatile actress and noted social activist Shabana Azmi received the International Gandhi Peace Prize in London for her exemplary work for underprivileged women, especially in the slums of Mumbai through her movement ‘Nivara Hakk’. The actor’s struggle for slum dwellers has now resulted in the construction of 30,000 homes under a tripartite agreement among the charity, a private builder and the Maharashtra government.
Actor and social activist Vanessa Redgrave, who bestowed on Shabana the prestigious award, said Shabana was a special person and the world desperately needs people like her.
The Gandhi Foundation, presided over by Gandhi director Sir Richard Attenborough, will celebrate the 140th anniversary of the Mahatma’s birth in 2009.
She is the first Indian to be honoured with this award.She was given the award for her struggle adopting Gandhian means, to ensure the rehabilitation of displaced slum dwellers in Mumbai at a time when India is rediscovering the voice and ways of the Father of the Nation. “We need to look at the model of development that we are following. It cannot progress at the cost of many, benefiting only a few,” said Azmi.
It’s in real life, not the movies, where SHABANA AZMI plays her biggest partas a crusader against injustice. When I saw her in Shyam Benegal`s film `Ankur, we knew her just as the highprofile daughter of Kaifi and shaukat Azmi. Since then she has identified with all the people`s movement in India. There may be many more great actresses in the history of Indian cinema, but the role she plays out of reel life may not be compared with others. She along with Smita Patil deglamourized the traditional female lead on screen and upheld the identity of dalit woman in general.Her passion is incontrovertible. Her ego can easily tend toward excessive. Her talent keeps her famous, and her pulchritude made her that way. In Bollywood, she tired of formulaic fare and is one of the few marquee actresses willing to risk reputation to take adventurous roles in experimental films. Her portrayal of a lonely woman who falls in love with her sister-in-law in Deepa Mehta’s 1998 film Fire sparked threats of a ban by censors and violent protests by fundamentalists enraged at the depiction of lesbianism in middle-class India.
We saw her with others coming to Meerut by foot from New Delhi in protest of Maliyana massacres in the later part of eighties. At that time , I was in Meerut. I may not forget the occassion as it was the last meeting with Shankar Guha Niyogi, the murdered leader of Chhattishgarh Mukti Morcha.Since then, we have seen her active everywhere whenever human and civil rights are violeted.Azmi’s activism has angered both Hindu and Muslim radicals as well as a variety of vested interests. But she doesn’t care. “I am a daughter, a wife, a mother, a woman, an actress, an Indian and a Muslim,” she says. “Each of those identities is important to me.” And she doesn’t intend to let anyone forget it.
The actor who was in UK to accept the award, questioned the use of the veil by women in Islam, in a country where the veil has attracted a lot of attention in the recent weeks.The veil is debated upon as a symbol of the separateness and ghettoisation of the Muslim community.
Shabana Azmi became the first Indian recipient of the International Gandhi Peace Prize in the House of Commons, clearly a mark of the increasing recognition Indians are getting on the international stage. She is humbled by the honour whose previous recipients include the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others.”It is a great honour that somehow my name can be linked to Mahatma Gandhi,” she added.
Speaking on non-violence, the actor said, ”Violence should be discarded not just on high moral ground but on the reality that it does not work. It only spirals downwards. The greatest lesson from the father of the nation is that he was capable of standing up against an adversary, while recognising his rights.”
Azmi, who was described by no less than a person Satyajit Ray, as the finest dramatic actress of India, told PTI “I am honoured at being chosen for such an outstanding award, whose previous recipients included the Dalai Lama.”She said she was happy that her involvement for rehabilitation of slum dwellers had borne fruit. At least 13,000 slum dwellers have been rehabilitated owing to her effort.
She has unequivocally condemned and fought against religious fundamentalism, on hundreds of occasions from different platforms. She has never lagged behind in any endeavour to normalise matters, whenever communal amity and peace is held to ransom by anti-social elements. Shabana Azmi is always at the forefront in fight for a just cause whether it is for the cause of slum dwellers of Mumbai or for alleviation of those suffering from AIDS.
As an actress, may be Shabana is past her prime. But as a champion of progressive ideas, national integrity, peace and harmony she has many more miles to traverse. We wish her a long life so that she keeps on serving the society with the ardour, so inherently characteristic of her.
Azmi has starred in some of the greatest Indian films like Ankur, Mandi, Arth, Khandar, Paar, Sparsh, Godmother and Tehzeeb.
Azmi is already the recipient of the National Award for Best Actress five times, which includes receiving the coveted gong thrice in a row from 1983-85 for her roles in the films Arth, Khandar and Paar. Her other achievements include the Filmfare Award for Best Actress three times and the Filmfare Life Time Achievement Award.
She has also received the prestigious Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum – Davos, 2006 for her contributions in the field of culture.
But the measure of Shabana Azmi’s humanity is none of those things. It is her willingness to say, simply, what others are frightened of saying. “The trouble,” says Azmi, “is that I can never keep quiet.” That volubility has indeed caused her problems, but it’s also made the 51-year-old Indian actress an outspoken secular hero espousing tolerance in a state riven by religious conflict.
It should be very clear that it’s not her movie roles that have made her a hero for modern India. She has consistentlyand loudlyrailed against real-world injustice. Early in her career, she took up the cause of slum dwellers in Bombaywhere she liveswho had been ruthlessly evicted by municipal authorities. Since 1993, appalled by the then bloody riots between Muslims and Hindus, Azmi, a Muslim, has become a forceful critic of communalism and a tireless crusader to end religious extremism.
Azmi does not just fight for her co-religionists. In fact, her greatest battle has been against fundamentalist Islamic leaders. Post-Sept. 11, Azmi was among the first in the country to publicly criticize militant Islam. When the imam of Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque, said Indian Muslims should join the jihad in Afghanistan, Azmi urged him to goalone. Her outburst encouraged other Muslim moderates to step forward and counsel tolerance.
Shabana Azmi is the resurgent face of feminism of modern India. It is a different matter that she is equally acclaimed for her brilliance on the celluloid. Her social activism and the courage to call a spade a spade, has made her a cut above the rest, of the usual lot of Bollywood stars. Shabanas striking countenance that fits into a vast spectrum of roles; coupled with her unmatched prowess, to emote and empathise with versatile characters, has made her hold sway on a genre of cinema for three decades. She is the pioneer of parallel movement in the Indian cinema and is the undisputed monarch of her territory. It is highly unlikely that times shall find her an heir, to carry forward her prolific legacy.
Shabana is quoted by Hindu, “What worries me is that so many women are coming into television as directors and writers and still there is no change. It’s because they are coming with a different agenda, propelled not by women’s empowerment but by market forces.”
A part of the article published by Hindu as follows:
`BEING AN actress, you would think, would be a self-absorbing thing, leaving little time to dwell on things outside yourself. That too if you are an actress who has set such standards of performance that no treatise on Indian cinema would be complete without a reference to you. But not so for Shabana Azmi. Parliamentarian, goodwill ambassador to the UNFPA and one of the most vocal and visible faces of activism in India, Shabana Azmi’s walk from actress nonpareil to activist began more than a decade ago when she joined hands with film-maker, Anand Patwardhan, to raise her voice on behalf of the slum dwellers, who in cities like Mumbai constitute over 70 per cent of the population and yet have no rights as citizens. With Nivara Haq Samiti, Shabana fought and continues to fight for the past 16 years. As she puts it, “if these people ever decide to go on strike, the cities will come to a grinding halt.”
Since then, Shabana has championed many causes some of the most visible being her fight against the suppression of creative expression and her subsequent brush with the saffron brigade when she was to star in Deepa Mehta’s “Water.” (Her controversial role in Mehta’s earlier film, “Fire” had already set the tone of that debate!)
And more recently, she became the voice of the liberal Muslim and was in the eye of a storm when she suggested that Imam Bukhari should be airdropped in Afghanistan for supporting the Taliban so that he could fight for them. The Imam’s insulting rejoinder that too on national television evoked a shocked response across the country and in Parliament, but did not deter a dignified Shabana who said that it only went to show the Imam for what he was…
Shabana Azmi. Celebrity with a cause (several, actually). Incredibly articulate, passionately committed, with a rare felicity with sound bytes; all these combined with liberal dollops of politically correct glamour. Naturally she was one of the main draws at a recent theatre festival in Mysore. The history books controversy was just freshly hatched, the festival’s theme was one dear to her heart the state of the contemporary Indian woman and Shabana was in full sail…
Talking to Shabana Azmi is like sailing down a river. All you can do is flow with the current, strong, sure, impatient if you interrupt or resist, taking you inexorably downstream…
Here is an interview:
On women’s empowerment, Shabana has this to say:
“We can’t talk about empowering women without redefining the concept of power. To me, power is legitimate authority rather than something that you use against another section of society in order to control it and be more powerful. It is about the sharing of power.
Empowerment has to happen from within, from women themselves. If people step in from outside saying, “We will empower,” they can do nothing. Empowerment is facilitating, encouraging women to articulate their needs, about which they are already very clear.
The problem with the empowerment of women in India is…
Women’s empowerment without two things is impossible.
The first is education and it’s not just enough to make women literate. We have to give them education that will shape and change their outlook. Look at the kind of education that women get today full of gender stereotyping and with a strong communal bias. This is dangerous. We need to change that and educate the woman to re-define herself and her role in society.
The second is economic independence. Again it is not enough for the woman to earn money, she must also have the right to spend it. We still have working women having to ask their mothers-in-law permission to buy a sari. Empowerment is not just the right to earn, but the right to spend as well…
So, what should be the first move?
First, we must educate the girl child. Secondly, women must have access to health care. Health is on nobody’s agenda and women’s health even less so. What really pains me is that 54 years after independence, we still haven’t been able to provide safe motherhood in India and 70 per cent of maternal deaths are entirely preventable.
So, is the empowerment of Indian women really happening? What about places like U.P. and Bihar?
A lot is happening. Maybe not as rapidly as we’d like it to, but it’s happening all the same. Obviously it’s going to happen unequally because of the differences in social development between States. But that’s no reason to despair at all. The wonderful part is that the women’s movement in India has developed its own indigenous model where the focus is on empowering women in groups rather than individually as is the Western focus.
The ideas that are going to revolutionise women’s movement…
Micro credit. It’s shaking traditional family structures because suddenly it is the woman who has access to money and funding and that forces society to look again at who she is and what she stands for… That is why movements like SEWA are so powerful. They empower women not just to earn money but also to manage it themselves.
The Panchayati Raj. When women become sarpanchs, they are being placed at the centre of group development units and that becomes very empowering. It’s interesting to see how different the issues are for women sarpanchs versus the male ones. The women want access to water, to firewood and schools for their children, whereas the men want to build community centres brick and mortar things.
On the regressive stereotyping of women in prime time television serials and why they are so popular…
What worries me is that so many women are coming into television as directors and writers and still there is no change. It’s because they are coming with a different agenda, propelled not by women’s empowerment but by market forces.
On social change…
I truly believe that change can only occur if society’s action complements government action. It’s all very well to blame the State, but are you with the problem or are you with the solution? I want to be part of the solution and I’ll do anything for that…
Shabana Azmi made her debut in Shayam Benegals Ankur (1972). The film paid her rich dividends. Ankur not only became a harbinger of the parallel cinema, but also fetched her the first National Award. Later she went on to win another four a feat unparalleled in the annals of film industry. Eight years and fifteen films after her debut, she showcased her greatest award winning performance in Mahesh Bhatts Arth (1982). Arth brought her yet another National Award and her first Filmfare award. It also placed her firmly in the orbit of the galaxy of film stars. She played a castaway wife, who had the mettle to take on the world. An equally brilliant performance by her illustrious co-star, the late Smita Patil, goaded Shabana to churn out her best. The rest of the three National Awards came from Khandar (1984), Paar (1985) and Godmother (1999). In Doosri Dulhan (1982), she played a prostitute to the hilt – the typical pan chewing and curse-spewing courtesan, who tries to seduce a millionaire out in search of a womb to father his child.
In the eighties, she acted in a large number of films. In her other two most popular films, like Swami (77) and Apne Paraye (80), based upon Saratchandra Chatterjee novels, she plays the strong, traditional woman who gracefully overcomes the infirmities associated with womanhood. Her second Filmfare award came from Bhavana. Swami won her the third Filmfare award for Best Actress. Masoom (1983), Khamosh (1985), Krishna (1987), Ek Admi (1988), and Disha (1990) moulded her image as an intelligent, responsible and thinking actress.
In the Immaculate Conception (1992), an English trans-cultural drama of Jamil Dehlvi, she played Samira- a Pakistani lady opposite James Wilby. The Son of Pink Panther directed by Blake Edwards; Rolland Joeffs City of Joy; Nicholas Klotzs The Bengali Night co -starred with John Hurt and Hugh Grant and John Schlesingers Madame Sousatzka (1988), all won her immense International acclaim.
It stands to her credit that she can flit from art roles to a popular jean wearing Bollywood glam girl with ease. Her appreciable performances in Amar Akbar Anthony (1976) and Fakira (1978) bear ample testimony to this fact. Shabana, the adventurist came to fore, in her foray into the controversial subject like lesbianism, in Deepa Mehtas Fire (1996). In Mrityudand (1997), she picturised a barren woman who warms up to a socially inferior partner. To add further versatility to her profile, she played a witch in Vishal Bharadwajs horror flick- Makdi (2002). Lately, she figured in Khalid Mohameds Tehzeeb and easily overshadowed the skimpily clad co- artists.
Shabana, the actress of all seasons was included in the august jury of International Film Festivals held at Cairo and Montreal.
Shabana is married to an equally famous poet-lyricist and screenwriter husband Javed Akhtar. The Government of India honoured Shabana, a veteran of over hundred films with Padam Shri award in 1998. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, as a Member of Parliament by the President of India, an honour bestowed upon people who have attained excellence in their respective fields. She also has the distinction of holding the coveted post of United Nations Ambassador of Goodwill on Population and Development.
Musical tribute to the Father of the Nation
Outlook – India – by Dharam Shourie – October 29, 2006
Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan offered a musical tribute to the Father of the Nation at the Carnegie hall here.
The piece composed by the Padma Vibhushan awardee as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the centenary of the first Satyagraha, enchanted the audience.
The concert commenced with a solo performance followed by a duet by 28-year-old Amaan and 26-year-old Ayaan. The finale, a joint performance by the threesome, earned them a standing ovation.
Khan rendered two favourite songs of the Mahatma including Ram Dhun. The trio they played Raagas Kamod, Kausi Kanhra and Kirwani.
Speaking about the concert with his sons, he said symbolically, this brings out the importance of cohesiveness of families and of maintaining Indian tradition of family values.
In this context, he said he is proud of the fact that they are the only family which is carrying on this tradition for seven generations.
Khan lamented the lack of any world class concert hall in India.
The maestro said he had no quarrel with the government promoting establishment of stadiums for sportspersons but classic music too needs halls with world class acoustics to bring out the full flavour of the performances and, more importantly, to ensure that the age old heritage is not lost.
The newly renovated Carnegie hall is especially designed for concerts and the magical effect that his performance had on the audience of more than 1500 and the response he received apparently made him emotional.
Such a hall, Khan said, should be run by the private sector even if it is established with help of government. He would like concert halls with world class acoustic to be established in all major cities of India.
Asked about the future of classical music in view of latest trend away from it in Bollywood, Khan said classical music always had tough going but it is also true that it always had its own audience. It has survived and will survive, he said in now well known soft but confident style.
“We are used to playing in all sorts of environments -in tents, houses, open stages -but then the performance in a acoustically true hall brings out best in the artiste and enhances the experience of the audience,” he said.
Mahatmas vital concern
The Tribune – India – by A.J. Philip – October 29, 2006
Brahmacharya: Gandhi & His Women Associates
by Girja Kumar
Vitasta Publishing Pvt. Ltd
Pages 411. Rs 695
A MOBILE exhibition that visited our village during the centenary of Mahatma Gandhis birth in 1969 depicted dozens of his photographs from that of a toddler in Porbandar to his last journey on a gun carriage in New Delhi. However, the image that remained etched in my mind was that of a toothless old man with a beatific smile on his face and clutching at a staff.
This image underwent a metamorphosis when I saw Ram Kinkars life-size sculpture of Gandhiji taking part in the Dandi March at a park in Santiniketan. But for a loin-cloth, he was naked. What struck me most was his physical beauty, particularly the strength of his muscular legs. Realisation dawned on me that he was as handsome as he was charismatic.
Years later when I read Arthur Koestlers controversial, some say, racist, book The Robot and The Lotus, I was shocked to read about some of Gandhis mind-boggling views on sex. It described a particular incident in which the British police who had gone to arrest him found Gandhi and a nubile girl sleeping on the same bed in a state of undress.
Girja Kumar, who is credited with setting up the prestigious Sapru House library in New Delhi, throws light on a slightly uncharted aspect of Gandhijis lifehis relationship with a bevy of women. His admiration for Gandhiji is apparent but that does not prevent him from calling a spade a spade.
From his days in South Africa where he went as a struggling lawyer, women of all nationalities were attracted to Gandhiji like bees to honey. He always felt, though seldom admitted, that Kasturba, whom he married at the age of 13, could not provide him intellectual companionship.
So he looked for and found women of his choice who could understand the role he played and the politics he pursued. Unlike most others, Gandhiji was brutally frank about his relationships with women, though many of his confidants with the singular exception of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was “diplomatic”, found them questionable. Women were simply guinea pigs for his weird experiments in brahmacharya.
Gandhiji had difficulty in coming to terms with as basic an instinct as sex. He found it an abhorrent urge, the control of which would make him great. And he was ready to go to any length to perfect his state of married celibacy. An incident that happened soon after his marriage influenced him a great deal. His father was on his deathbed and Gandhiji was massaging his legs when he had an arousal. He rushed to Kasturba, woke her up, had sex and returned to his fathers bed to find him dead.
The thought that he was dying exactly when he was copulating haunted him all his life. “I cannot imagine a thing as ugly as the intercourse as man and woman”, he once said. Thus began his famous battle against sex which he never won, not because he was not earnest or full-hearted in his attempt but because he fought against the all-powerful Nature.
For all his greatness as a mass leader, philosopher and thinker, Gandhiji had idiotic ideas about many aspects of sex. He forsook milk because it stimulated “the lower passion of mans nature” forcing a vitriolic comment from his first known female friend Millie Graham Polak, “If that be so`85 then young children who are principally fed on milk would be nothing but horrible little brutes”.
Barely 23 years after his marriage, he renounced sex because he believed that if he got enamoured of Kasturba and indulged in sexual gratification, he would fall the very instant. “My work would go to the dogs and I would lose in a twinkling all that power which would enable one to achieve swaraj”. All his higher education did not equip him to discard the notion that semen which he called “vital fluid” was “Gods gift to be preserved, stored and retained under all circumstances”. It was as if swaraj lay in semen.
While he practised abstinence with perfection making his bedroom a torture chamber, he agonised over his involuntary discharges exposing his ignorance of the biological functions of the body.
There were many women social climbers who were in his charmed circle but there were others who found him sexually attractive and sought gratification through him. Without exception, he used all of them as his “walking sticks” or as tools in his grand but grotesque laboratory of brahmacharya.
What did the women get in return? He regretted that he adopted “Lakhsmi,” a Harijan who ended her life in obscurity, he got a married girl Jeki exposed to public ridicule by forcing her to cut her hair just because she made the mistake of kissing his son, he subjected his wife to torture of all kinds, conditioned many of his women friends like Sonja Schlesin, Sushila Nayyar and Mirabehn to remain spinsters all their lives and ruined the family life of friends like Jayaprakash Narayan. Why? The author answers, “Probably he loved no once except himself”.
There is a touching episode in the book where his elder son Harilal, a drunkard who once became a Muslim, shouts “Mata Kasturba ki jai” when the Jabalpur Mail in which the Gandhis were travelling reached Katni station. He thrust an orange, which he had begged from a fruit vendor, into her hands and said, “Ba, it is exclusively for you. If you dont eat it, give it back to me”.
When Gandhiji solicited a portion of the “booty” as his patrimony, Harilal brusquely rejected his request, “No. It is exclusively for Ba. He also added an advice to him. “All your greatness is owed to her”. When the train moved, they heard the distant cry, “Mata Kasturba ki jai”.
He was a Mahatma for the world but for his family he was the Old Testament God spitting brimstone and fire. Girja Kumars is an enjoyable book that calls for tighter editing to eliminate repetitions and proof mistakes.
Mahatma must thank Munnabhai
ChennaiOnline – India – October 30, 2006
New Delhi, Oct 29: With ‘Gandhigiri’ fast catching on, Gandhi Darshan, which houses a permanent exhibition on the Mahatma, is set to be transformed into an international centre for studies on Gandhian philosophy to include various facets of his life.
A Rs 100 crore plan for this has been prepared by the Union culture Ministry to upgrade Gandhi Darshan, located near the Mahatma’s samadhi at Rajghat here.
The plan, which was presented to the Planning Commission earlier this month and has received the panel’s approval, envisages the development of Gandhi Darshan into a centre of excellence in Gandhian thought, a top official in the Culture Ministry said.
“The idea involves giving an integrated view of the Gandhian way of life. The plan is to have a museum, a library and a separate section for children among other things,” he said, elaborating on development plans for the 36-acre campus.
The plan, in keeping with the centenary celebrations of the Satyagraha movement launched by Gandhi, also involves a project for educating people on the Gandhian method of production, including khadi, honey and medicines.
“People will be able to actually see how these products are made. And this production can also be done on a commercial scale,” the official said.
Non-violence within our grasp
DailyPress – USA – by Kim Donaldson – October 23, 2006
Earlier this month, my daughters and I had the privilege of hearing Arun Gandhi speak at Northern Michigan University. If the name sounds familiar, it is probably because you have heard of his grandfather, Mohandas K. Gandhi of India.
Widely known for putting into words a philosophy and practice of non-violent living and non-violent resistance, M.K. Gandhi taught his grandson many lessons in his life and their time together. Arun Gandhi shared with his large audience many of these lessons.
We learned that violence doesnt just mean war, and non-violence and peace dont just mean the absence of war. Non-violence is an active way of living and of seeing the world. It means resisting all forms of violence, may it be active: war, yelling at or hitting our children, or kicking the dog; or passive: over-consumption, thus waste, continuously belittling others or degrading and waste of our natural resources.
Mr. Gandhi reminded us that our country is mired in over-consumption. Perhaps we knew that, but what we might not think about is that the resources that we use, and the resources that are used to produce the goods we consume are limited. And that which we use is basically taken from others in the world. This is a form of passive violence using more than our share.
Mr. Gandhi also pointed out that denying our connection to the rest of the people in our world is a form of passive violence; not only in our over-consumption, but also in our countrys attitude about other countries. We have been told many times in the past few years to be patriotic, love our country. But, as Gandhi points out, what is the point in being patriotic to a piece of geography. We need to be patriotic to all the peoples of the world.
If we as a people could embrace the idea of patriotism, or love for all the world, then our differences wouldnt seem so large, the hatred would melt away.
The non-violence of which Mr. Arun Gandhi spoke is hardly out of reach. It is something that we can all strive for in our daily lives and gradually, all the pieces of peace can be put together.
To explore these issues further, why not consider attending the Exploring peace teach-in at NMU Oct. 28. With questions please call or email (497-4207; kimdonaldson@hotmail.com).
Priest devotes life to Gandhian ideals – Video
NDTV – India – by Sourav Sanyal – October 29, 2006
A Canadian priest who arrived in India more than 50 years ago has since then been transforming lives on the basic Gandhian philosophy of self-reliance.
At 80, Maya Tamang, should have been sitting at home, playing with her grandchildren. But she is working, processing fly ash to make compost.
Maya has no family and for her this work means some money and more importantly, a sense of belonging to a family.
The family is 300-odd residents of Kurseong headed by Father Abraham, a Canadian missionary.
Help abandoned
People from 17 villages dotting Kurseong hills, young, old, physically challenged, abandoned, they are all part of the St Alphonsus Social and Agriculture Centre or SASAC.
“I have nowhere to go. I have told Father this is the only place I can work else I will have nothing to do. I can work for three-four years more,” said Maya, SASAC worker.
The missionary was founded 30 years ago to give people like Maya something to live for.
People here can earn Rs 60 per day for the work that they do.
“I’ve always thought that the best way to help the poor is to give them what I call meaningful work. It’s not necessarily making money but we plant thousands of trees every year which is very good for environment,” said Father Abraham, Founder, SASAC.
“We build homes for the poor which is wonderful for those families and our workers have work to do and can run their own life with their own families,” he added.
This is philosophy that Father Abraham has borrowed from Mahatma Gandhi, who became the Canadian’s idol ever since he landed in India in 1948.
Latest project
His latest project in the remote village of Chimney is another extension of the philosophy of self-reliance.
He is setting up a vocational training centre in the remote Darjeeling village that he hopes will give the locals a livelihood and much more.
“It’s really fortunate for me that I started doing my work before I really got to know Gandhi but then when I realized I was doing what he promoted, it was a great confirmation that I was on the right way and of course he’s been a great inspiration for me,” said Father Abraham.
The Mahatma would certainly be happy with Father Abraham’s efforts to tackle the biggest problem in the hills the shortage of cultivable land.
SASAC has launched a project called square metre farming.
Young children are given one square metre of land each and taught the basics of farming how to rotate crops, avoid pests and how to prevent the soil from being depleted. The project is already making a difference.
“We had a survey with 350 families and we found out the average land holding of these 350 families was half an acre and they were getting Rs 400-500 a month from this half acre land. It was after doing vegetable farming in their own traditional way,” said Sudhir Bhitrikoty, Coordinator, SQM Farming.
“Some of them, 15 families, who switched to our system after they started growing vegetables in square metre farming, some of the families were earning Rs 1500-2000 a month,” he added.
Villagers diversifying
The fruits of Father Abraham’s efforts are tangible in other areas as well. Besides traditional farming, villagers are diversifying into animal husbandry and low cost horticulture and reaping rich returns.
“We are teaching them about mushrooms. They can grow it easily its very cost effective. They can grow them at home,” said Lal Chand, Mushroom coordinator.
Father Abraham’s fame has spread and several other states in fact at least one other country are trying to replicate his model of self-reliance in the hills.
Set up with a mission to help the poorest of the poor find ground beneath their feet, this model is working wonders 5,000 feet above sea level.
With neighbouring states like Sikkim and Arunachal and countries like Nepal adopting this model of self-empowerment, many more villages will have brighter days in the years to come.
The articles of the Mahatma Gandhi News Digest originate from external sources.
They do not represent the views of GandhiServe Foundation.
Email – mail@gandhimail.org