Daily Diary Oct 3rd/2011

Is Gandhi relevant today!

Not necessarily. But his message of love,truth and nonviolence is very basic and eternal both at the individual and worldly levels.

This is what has been emphasized in an article in the October 2nd edition of the Indian Express by a grandson of Gandhi.

While love and truth are mostly viewed as saintly sermons,the message of nonviolence is the most popular weapon which Gandhi successfully used,and which got international recognition.

However,the nonviolence doctrine has not been upgraded to the level where it could avoid and resolve major violent conflicts in the world.Wars in Afghanistan or Iraq would not have been necessitated if a genuine one on one dialogue between the leaders could have been tried.

The nonviolence approach does not merely confine to mere strikes or fasts as was effectively practiced by Gandhi. In this age of mass communications and advanced flow of information and viewpoints,violent fighting over conflicts to resolve issues is totally insane.

While Gandhi's nonviolence activism got him international fame and many followers, an important part of his personal life and preferences has been revealed in a very unknown small book by Mr Kris Tangri.

Kris Tangri is an old acquaint of mine and Papaji's longtime friend Shanti's brother,who in his 80's lives a retired life in Victoria,Canada,after a very successful academic career.

Kris reveals in his book that during his university days in India,he fell in love with a fellow student who was the grand daughter of Gandhi.The romance went for quite some time and finally the couple agreed to get married.

But,according to Kris that was not acceptable to Gandhi,for the only reason,he figured out that he was Punjabi getting into Gujarati family,which never happened before.Otherwise,Kris in his young days was quite handsome,educated,intelligent and belonged to reputable and established Punjabi Khatri Hindu family.Sure,he had all the required qualifications to be accepted by Gandhi and his family,but he was not a Gujarati.

Despite,initial no to this proposal,the couple were adamant and the engagement ceremony was performed.At this point,Gandhi came with a condition that marriage could only take place if the couple did not see each other for next seven years as a test of their everlasting love for each other.

Well,the destiny had it's own plan,Kris was to leave for Europe for higher studies,and while abroad,due to lack of fast communications,he lost his contact with the person he loved. Gandhi's scheme worked and his grand daughter in the meantime got married,which Kris learnt when he came back to India.

Well that was Mahatama Gandhi known for his universal fight against racism and prejudice,but in his personal life he was just a Gandhi.