Celebrating Gandhiji's birthday

Amitesh Verma
6th Sem IT

I celebrated Bapu Gandhi’s birthday in a manner he would not have approved of. Yet, I, shamelessly describe myself Gandhian. I raised my glass of a single Malt Scotch Whisky to wish his sprit life eternal and prayed: “Bapu, may our words and action be guided by you.” We know we have let you down many times; we sing Vaishanav Jan To Taimey kaheye Jo Peerh Paraye Jaaney Ray and Ishawar Allah Tere Naam. But, we do not hesitate to go for each other’s throats in disputes over temples and mosques.
Even we have named a township after you, GANDHINAGAR. The man elected from there led a march which ended by breaking down a Muslim place of worship. Gujarat, the state we honour because you were born there has as its head a man who connived at the killings of over a thousand Gujarati Muslims, forgetting that a Gujarati Muslim was your first client and took you to South Africa to fight his cases.
Even were there a growing number of bigots who believe that your preaching ahimsa - nonviolence – deprived us of material qualities and made us a weak nation. Consequently we call you the father of the nation, we are confused about your role in nation building. So all we do on your birth anniversary is take a chhuttee from work; go for picnic or zoo or a cinema without subscribing your motto: “Work is Worship”.
I persist in believing you were the prophet of our times and showed us the right path. We know more about you than we know about any of our prophets because their lives have been over laced with miracles imagined by their follower. You exposed yourself with absolute candor hiding nothing. You believed in Satya –truth- however embarrassing it was for you. So, though I do not share many of your values, I do my best to be truthful. I often fail but do not give up only because of the things I learnt from you, is to never give up. So raising a second toast to Bapu: “May your spirit continue to guide us till kingdom come”.

Written by- A common man on a common paper with a common pen on a common day.