Letters To Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi : Part 1

Subject – Death Of Swaraj

Dear Gandhi,

Today we visited an Adivasi community in a village called Phala amidst the hills of Udaipur. The idea was to understand the lifestyle of the villagers by interacting with them. The village had 13 mohallas, the one we visited was Godphala. A small mohalla – 3km in length and 2km in breadth, it had around 100 families. It appeared like a May time Telangana village with plowed fields waiting for the monsoon, the cattle here didn’t look as strong as the ones down south. The village had a primary school as lifeless as the ones in many other village of this country.

We went to a local grocery store owner’s house to have a chat. Lal Chand worked in the mines for 30 years before retiring. He had 3 sons, all of them separated from him after their marriages. Now they practice agriculture on the plots that came down to them as ancestral property after the division. After lunch, the village community gathered at the school to discuss about their village with the visitors from far away cities. The confused visitors and the shy village women sat there staring at each other’s blank faces. After some uncomfortable moments, a co-fellow broke the silence and started by introducing us to the villagers and explained the purpose of the visit.

Why should Lal Chand, a self-sufficient farmer-who lived in the village for all of his life-complain about the problems of his village to a bunch of strangers who couldn’t even tell a cow from a buffalo? Is this what you mean by “Indians will build their own India”? Isn’t India a mere geographical entity? How much more Indian is a Hyderabadi to a Rajasthani farmer than any other foreigner? Is this Swaraj?

Subject – Time To Act

Dear Gandhi,

One month into the fellowship and the thoughts causing all the confusion haven’t gone anywhere. If anything, they’ve only increased. These thoughts, each acting like a neutrino triggering a chain reaction, would have exploded this tiny brain if not for the tobacco rods of control. But for how long? Thought sharing some of those might take some load off.

You remember you said, “be the change you wish to see in the world”. Bloody hell old man, I don’t want to see any change in this world. The world is perfectly imperfect and it needs to be so if it has to continue to exist. All this talk about fighting for the right, empowering the weak, making the world a better place … isn’t it something that we tell that restless inner thing to satisfy its conscience? This emotionless state of the mind … nothing seems to affect it. Not even those cases of rape. It neither feels sorry for the girl nor any anger towards the guy.

Is it his mistake or … whose? The overly commercialised media? Irresponsible parent? Incapable teacher? Or is it the government that failed in its duty to provide safety? Who elected it? So, is it the collective responsibility of the society? Isn’t it a mere imaginary social entity? A girl gets raped, and here I am with this evolved analysis … the one thing that is affecting me is the thought that even such incidents are not affecting me.

What do I do? Nothing seems to be right or wrong. There are fanatics, of course, but then, aren’t they the ones who bring all the excitement into this otherwise boring society, providing it with the much needed energy to continue its existence. Yes, there is poverty, ignorance, exploitation … but for how many days will this planet of 7 billion thinking apes survive if all those become rich and empowered. Oh yeah, with the right kind of education, that imparts right kind of values, things would be different. Maybe yes, but then it won’t last forever right? Things will degrade anyway. So, why bother fixing ’em? Is this pessimism? Or am I just submitting to my inability to solve the issue at hand?

oo mahatma….oo maharshi
yedi cheekati yedi veluturu
yedi jeevitamedi mrutyuvu
yedi punyam yedi papam
yedi narakam yedi naakam
yedi satyam yedasatyam
yedanityam yedi nityam
yedi yekam yedanekam
yedi karanamedi karyam

oo mahatma…oo maharshi
yedi telupu yedi nalupu
yedi ganam yedi mounam
yedi naadi yedi needi
yedi neethi yedi nethi
ninna swapnam neti satyam
neti khedam repu ragam
oke kanthi oke shanthi
oo maharshi…oo mahatma…

Oh wait, why do I even care? Because I want to live mate. I don’t want to die or retreat to those snowy mountains. I love this world and I want to be a part of it. But where should I get that drive from?

Some say you don’t understand pain unless you experience it. Maybe I need an embarrassing push from this train of airy thoughts. That one hard-hitting experience to pull this aimless mind down to the ground. I am searching for it since the rise of consciousness. Let’s see if these currently-prosperous, hard working, ready-to-give-up-agriculture farmers of Gohana in Haryana have it. Time to put this thought in the back end and switch to action mode. Anyways, should go to the Sabji Mandi in the morning … good night!