Ganhdi would have been 140 years old on October 2nd and Google celebrated his life and marked his brithday for the world to see, which because of him was declared by the United Nations General Assembly on june 15th 2007 as the International day of Non Violence. He joined what some might consider elite band of folks who have graced the google doodle. Those include Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Confucius and Michael Jackson. Perosnally I am not sure a child molester belongs in that company but Google decided he did. Anyway, October 2nd is a national holiday in India known as "Gandhi Jayanti", this day marks the occasion of the father of the nation’s birthday. This is one of three officially declared National Holidays in India and is observed by all Indian states and union territories. No where in India can you buy or consume liquor, a small way to honor this great man. He was born on October 2 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and has been celebrated for his ideas and leadership by example on non violent passive resistance. Most times you hear his name you will hear "Mahatma", this word is actually from the Sanskrit word meaning "Great Soul". The name change happened after he returned to India from South Africa, the Indian people began to call him Mahatma, a title reserved for great sages.
He married at a very young age, 13 and he a Kasturbai Makanji were blessed with four sons. This created some issues for the family, his wife is widly quoted as saying "You want my sons to be holy men before they are men!" The four of them tried to live up to their father's expectations of them, but each, in his own way, failed. Gandhi's attitude toward their failure was, by his own testimony, an element of guilt for sexual excesses in his childhood marriage. So even in the family of Mahatma Gandhi there was some dysfunction, who would have thunk it? The records tell us that Harilal, his oldest son, converted to Islam and later became an alcoholic. I also found that when Harilal's wife died in 1918 that Gandhi would not approve a re-marriage and that broke the son. I had no idea about any of this and was quite surprised to find out about it. Gandhi was a committed man and wore his convictions for all to see, and they would seem impossible for a son to live up to, this is really a sad story for the son’s of Gandhi. It appears to me that there is a paradox in Gandhi's life, poor treatment of his wife and children are not congruent with his behavior towards others. He was extremely demanding of himself, and those closest to him. It appears that he was easily able to display loving kindness to virtually everyone, everyone except his family. I found an interesting quote from Gandhi's best known biographer, Louis Fischer, in "The Life of Mahatma Gandhi". He put it very simply - Gandhi thought his sons could be chips off the old block, but the block did not chip. They say that later in his life he had mellowed concerning his expectations of his family.
He began studying law in 1888 in London and finished that schooling in 1891 and in 1893 he opened his own law firm in South Africa. In 1906 he began the Satyagraha movement to protest to the law that all Indians should be finger printed and should also carry an identification card. Gandhi started a peaceful campaign declaring that he would either go to the jail or die before following any anti-Asian laws. This was the first of many callings he was drawn to in his life, this is where he planted the seed of who he would become. George Paxton, of the London-based Gandhi Foundation, said that times Gandhi sounded very anti-technology because he advocated a return to a simpler way of life. He viewed most techologies as a bane to the poor because they were so often employed at the expense of the poor. In India there were massive numbers of unemployed, and the introduction of technology wasn't benefiting them, it was benefiting the owners of the factories. While he did not publicly advocate technology he would not have been able to lead India to indepence from British rule in 1947 without being a master of it. Without technology such as the telegraph, telephone and newpaper he may not have risen to prominence.
While the bits of technology are differnent the priniciples are the same, most technological advances do not immediately benefit the masses although I think we are hitting a time when that tide is shifting. We are more impowered today than ever with new things, and I find it all fascinating. Don’t get me wrong, I am not sure we can handle it and keep it in the correct perspective. We have all this gadgets that help us get through our days, our crackberrys and I-phones and all the other wifi connected gadgets. But is being connected really all it is cracked up to be? We seem to have short memories, what did we do before cell phones? We got by just fine, when I was a kid my Mom kicked us out of the house and we were not allowed back until it got dark. No phones to GPS track us and we lived way out in the country and wandered for miles looking for some mischief to get into. Think about how frustrated you get when there is no cell service, or no connectivity for your I-pod. The simplier life Gandhi spent his life defending was just that, a simpler life. A life that one could enjoy without the pressures of a dictatorial regime ruling the country.
At the end of World War II, Britain emerged victorious and when general elections were held in 1945. While there were promises of self Government a committee arrived from England and discussions were held with the leaders of India about the future of the free India. These meetings obviously failed because of the differences in the opinion between the Congress and Muslims leaders. India did eventually attain Independence in 1945 but due to ongoing issues the country was partitioned into India and Pakistan. This inability to get everyone on the same page caused huge problems between the Hindus and the Muslims that continue to this day. During the entire ordeal Gandhi worked tirelessly to unite the Hindus and the Muslims. This angered the Hindu fundamentalists so much that one of them, Nathu Ram Godse, assassinated Gandhi on January 30, 1948. The last words on his lips were ‘Hey Ram’ (Oh God). He later inspired millions of people around the world, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.
He was a great man and I for one am glad that Google honored him on his birthday.
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