Some more Gandhigiri

Suggestion: Please note that you may find this post full of illogical sentences as Bhawana16 comments. I would therefore request you not to waste your time in reading it if you do not trust my sense of logic. There are many other,worth-reading, blogs on Sulekha. Don't waste your time here. 

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I beg your pardon if I am boring you with this ‘Gandhigiri’ stuff. Anyhow, I beg your pardon for begging that pardon from you! Actually, I’d gone off the track in my previous post on Gandhigiri (and I don’t beg any pardon for that!) wherein I didn’t discuss the implications and complications of Gandhigiri. It’s a simple philosophy, this

Gandhism … isn’t it? Perhaps not, for it always seems that simple ideas have complex implications causing even more complications. Gandhism is a luxury that few (perhaps, an overestimation) individuals can afford in its entirety. It’s not simple living and high thinking … it is simple living without thinking. Gandhism is so simple a philosophy that you need not think or worry about how it is to be implemented. You have to be truthful in the strict sense of the word (that’s not entirely affordable for we do lie if only to play a prank on someone … maybe, thereafter, we find a book titled, “My Accidents With Truth”), you have to be honest (that is affordable, I believe), you have to be non-violent (that is affordable to a large extent), you have to be a vegetarian (I doubt its affordability), you have to have morals and ethics (they are affordable), you have to be … only the Mahatma knows what.

Let us therefore ponder if Gandhism is the best way of living and if we cannot find any better and viable ways. Of course, there have been thinkers and philosophers in the past each of whom had a different philosophy of life. Mahatma Gandhi was arguably not the best amongst them all. He was personally influenced and drew inspiration from the likes of Tolstoy, Thoreau, and our very own Bhagwad Gita (remember Krishna, who always comes to my rescue whenever there’s a conflict between Gandhigiri and personal or public interests). It can therefore be said that the man behind the Mahatma was a living manifestation of ideas propounded by these greats coupled with his “own” notions of Satyagraha and non-violence (consider Jainism and Buddhism). I’ve just returned after watching ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ [LRM] and having been compelled to think in that Gandhigiri direction and wondering if Gandhism is a cause to live by, I find that I’ve been practicing Gandhigiri (at least the way it is depicted in the movie, though not strictly) as far as my own self is concerned and that is the reason why my colleagues find me eccentric for I have habits such as pocketing all the garbage (the wrappers, the peanut shells, etc.) that I am responsible for (and sometimes the rubbish that I am not even responsible for), if I don’t find a dustbin nearby.

Here I would draw your attention to the Times Ascent ‘SUCCESS SUTRAS’ section by Dr. Debashis Chatterjee (dated Sept. 27, 2006), which considers ‘The Mahatma as Manager’. That article by Dr. Chatterjee exposes the vulnerability of Gandhism (though he never actually uses the name Gandhi subject, of course, to the conventions of what might cause offence and what might not) as far as the Corporate sector is concerned. It concludes with, “We regret to inform you that we cannot offer you the job at the present time. Should a revolution happen in the future, we shall consider!” Now, what does this imply? A Mahatma cannot find a job in this age yet the idea of the Mahatma, executed creatively by Mr. Hirani, can earn millions at the box-office and can initiate discussions on Gandhism (or Gandhigiri, to use the more contemporary version of the word). It can reawaken a nation to realize that Gandhi isn’t a man or a God … it is an idea, a simple idea that can touch lives. Obviously, you cannot expect everyone in the world to suddenly become adherent to Gandhism much less expect a revolution to set in (so that the Mahatma may find a job!). The fact is Gandhism isn’t a revolutionary idea that seeks to change the world at one stroke. It is a gradual change in an individual, in the society, a change that will only reflect through constant practice of the notion that Gandhigiri is. And LRM is proving to be an efficient tool that can help the cause of Gandhism. I cannot change your mode of thinking unless you are willing to accept that change and neither can you do that to me. Indeed, I am no one on this planet of over 6 billion human beings yet I am someone to my own self for though I may not be able to induce any change in you or your colleagues, I am capable enough of bringing about that change within me and incorporating more of the viable Gandhian values. Gandhigiri is a revolution within, not a revolution without. And this revolution has begun …