Delhi: Ghandiji's inspiration and vision

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  Delhi, India
Friday, October 24, 2008

Waking up quite leisurely on Oct 23, Jana Aunty had prepared some wonderful parathas and subji for breakfast, taking Ankit to his mother's breakfast table. As we were getting ready, Jana Aunty received a call from a reporter wanting some opinions on the MNS-related violence in the state of Maharashtra and, upon her suggestion, I was scheduled for another TV interview to get an American's view and relate the story to events in our history.

Maharashtra has recently seen a huge spat of violence and discrimination against non-Marathi speakers (Marathi speakers generally live in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa), particularly in Bombay (the capital and by far largest city for economic opportunity in Maharashtra). Recently, the leader of the MNS (a pro-Marathi political party), Raj Thackaray was charged and released for his discrimination and violence against several north Indians applying for positions with the National Railway in Bombay. In recent events (after I left Delhi), a non-Marathi speaker who was wielding a gun in a bus was gunned down by five bullets to the head and chest by the Bombay police and a man from Uttar Pradesh on his way home from work in the outskirts of Bombay was lynched by a group of Marathi-speaking youths. It is uncertain whether the MNS is at all related to the latest two incidents. The Union Home Minister (kind of like the head of the Homeland Security or FBI) has stated that the violence in Maharashtra has not escalated to the level of that in Orissa and thus the Central government will not yet castigate the government of Maharashtra nor impose any sort of martial law.

Dandi Salt March sculpture

The Union Railway Minister (head of the Indian Railways) has stated that if the violence does not subside, the railways (which are the property and right of the entire nation) will cease to run to areas inflicted with violence.

Ankit and I took a taxi out to Jamia Millia Islamia, a university where my Aunt teaches that was originally established by nationalist Muslims to counter the Banaras Hindu University, has become an Indian Central University (with Delhi as the only campus) and is secular in nature. There I conducted my interview, relating the anti-Marathi racism to racial struggles (even in this year's Presidential election) and immigration policy in America. I also made the point that if and when there is an economic downturn in Maharashtra, many Marathi-speakers may seek to work elsewhere in the country. The current situation in India is akin to New Yorkers violently preventing Californians from working in their state or, more appropriately given the current job conditions, vice versa (albeit India has the long history dialect and cultural differences). There have recently been incidents of terrorism in Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia and their students have unfairly been brought to the center of the media's attention (resulting in a protest by my Aunt and many of her colleagues the following day), so the University personnel were not very pleased to have television cameras and an investigative reporter in the midst of their campus. I'm still trying to find a video of my interview.

Ankit and I then hailed a rikshaw up to Raj Ghat and the National Gandhi Museum.

Gandhiji statement 1

The museum is a fantastic collection of photographs and of Gandhiji's books, clothes, walking sticks, etc. and is presented in a wonderful chronological procession of his life and his famous "battles". Interspersed amongst the photographs are great panels, in Hindi and English, describing his philosophies (Satyagraha - truth and firm will and Ahimsa - non-violence, the two main strategies underpinning his non-violent non-cooperation as a weapon to rid India of the horrid British empire) and some of his quotations. Here are some excerpts that I had to note down:
"...Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a person or a system, one should be free to give his fullest expression of his dissatisfaction, so long as he does not contemplate, promote or incite to violence... non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good... as evil can only be sustained by violence, withdrawal of support for evil requires complete abstention from violence." -Statement made in 1922 when Gandhi plead guilty to charges of subverting the King and the Government of British India. Later in the dialogue between the Judge and Gandhi, the Judge basically states that he understands everything that Gandhi is saying, but must given Gandhi plead guilty he gave him as lenient a sentence as he could
"Harijan means a man from god... When caste Hindus have of their own inner conviction, and therefore voluntariliy got rid of untouchability, we shall all be called Harijans.

Gandhiji statement 2

Caste Hindus will then have found favor with God and then may fully be described as His men." -describing the Harijan and the appalling caste system in India
"Satyagraha teaches us the act of living as well as dying. The last 18 verses of the second chapter of the Baghavad Gita espouse this philosophy quite profoundly. You are no satyagrahi if you remain silent or passive while your enemy is being done to death. You must protect him even at the cost of your own life. If thousands in India learned this art, the face of India would be changed and no one could point the finger of scorn at non-violence as weakness. We would not shift blame on hooligan elements, we would convert and control hooligan elents too."
"Only truthful, non-violent, and pure-hearted socialists will be able to establish a socialistic society... There is no purely socialistic country." -Ghandiji, a huge proponent of socialism, but reflecting that what has been seen in practice is not what he envisions

Two other things struck me once again (I visited the museum in 2005) in the museum: a photo of Gandhiji in silent vigil over Kastutba's lifeless body and the blood-stained dhoti, shattered pocketwatch and urn that carried his ashes. After the museum, Ankit and I - in much silence as barely a word was uttered between us - made our way over to Raj Ghat, the site of Ghandiji's cremation. It is amazing the reverence that people pay to this great man and site where his soul was released from this cruel world. No shoes can be worn and people pray to him and leave flowers as they pass the platform. Moving around the platform, once again, I felt deep introspection, respect for Gandhiji and thought about the Ghandian spirit and vision for not only India, but all communities in the entire world. Instead of thinking about the deep sadness and inequalities in the world, I walked away from Raj Ghat with a smile on my face for all the positive strides that have been made everywhere and my own personal values of treating everyone equally and with deep and profound respect. There can be a little of Ghandiji in all of us, that's all it takes. The work is not done.

Ankit and I then walked over to Connaught Place, after grabbing some first class chai, in the British planned part of the city. It is a huge circle with radials coming off that is a major shopping area. We bought a couple of books (and repeatedly saw the dude walk across the books even after I told him to please walk around the books), grabbed a much sought after Pizza Hut meal (that tandoori chicken still tastes good) and eventually made our way back to Jana Aunty's place for another night of drinks and intense conversations.

For those who don't know, Gandhiji famously envisioned an India based on a collection of secular villages that were entirely self-sufficient and devoid of the ingrained caste system. How most people understand this concept are villages with khadi (home-spun cloth) and a relatively simple agrarian life. Jana Aunty enlightened us to a different view of the Gandhian village concept as that of a rising and educated India with the balance of power shifted. A Western reporter once came to visit Gandhiji, but had to wait for Ghandiji to complete all of his chores - till the land, milk the cow, spin the cloth. Almost ready to leave a frustrated man, Gandhiji held up the cloth to the reporter. I paraphrase: This thread is strong, this thread is weak. This one is black, this one is white, this one is blue. Together, it is strong. Kind of like India. Gandhiji believed in mobilizing and organizing by the villages. Just as with Tolstoy Farm in South Africa, he grouped together children of all ages (as he felt schooling by age group is not natural or realistic) and rather than schooling by providing books and lectures, he asked the children what they wanted to learn. If, for example, they wanted to build a table, the process would teach them about ecology, geography, pricing, math, building, teamwork, etc. In addition, such a learning process would turn the balance of power on its head. Teachers, typically Brahmin, would be forced to go to the carpenter and timber men, no doubt Dalits, and ask them to come to the class and instruct the children. This would lower the power and status of the teacher and raise that of the laborer. This method of instruction would empower children with all of the necessary fundamental skills you would learn in school, but in a very applicable and real world fashion. This was what Gandhiji envisioned as socialistic society in a benevolent and pure-hearted form.

Ankit and I parted that evening of Oct 24 - me on the way to Chennai and Ankit back to NYC. We had a phenomenal experience traveling together and seeing all the divergent sides of India (with exception of the beaches and the desert). As with any trip, it is not a success unless you take away certain new perspectives and lessons/goals reached from self-reflection. As sons of Indian immigrants, these thoughts are particularly acute when visiting the cities and villages of the motherland. I hope that he instills the changes that he wants in his life upon return to New York and look forward to the next time we hit the road together.

Test Cricket Update: As I'm writing this (Oct 30), India is simply demolishing Australia in the first innings of the third test. India has 613/7 and has declared. There is no chance India will bat again in this test and Australia will need to put together one of their best ever performances to have any prayer. Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman - not the two most name-brand stars on the squad filled with Tendular, Dhoni, Dravid and Ganguly - have each delivered double-centuries. It's now upto the Indian bowlers to fully embarass the Australians. I hope there will be at least some ceremonial cricket played on Sunday when I attend the match! Go India!

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