Do October Special

• Mahatma Gandhi

 ¤ A Great Legend Also Known As The Father Of Nations

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known as Mahatma Gandhi and the Father of the Indian Nation, was born on the 2nd October, 1869. The day is a national holiday marked by a series of cultural events organised each year to commemorate the birth of one of India’s greatest political beacons. On this day, bhajans, or devotional songs are sung at his samadhi, or memorial, in Delhi called Raj Ghat. The key figures of contemporary Indian politics take time off from their usually packed schedules to visit his memorial and silently go over the Mahatma’s life and its impact on the destiny of India.

 ¤ Gandhiji Also Knowan As Father of India 
For the average Indian, it could be just another holiday. But the average Indian lives in a country where every town and city has at least one road, one market, one statue and one park named after Gandhi. The average Indian has written essays on the Mahatma in school, and pored over his contribution to India’s independence in History classes. While most historical personalities in India’s checkered history, no matter how dynamic, could inspire only a fraction of the population, Gandhi connected with Indians at their own level, their caste, creed, sex or status notwithstanding, and was aptly christened bapu or father. To strike a cord in the heart of an average Indian, when the average Indian is classified as a Brahmin, Kshatriya or Shudra, (levels of castes in Hinduism established as early as the pre-Vedic era), or is a Tamilian, Punjabi or Marathi, a speck in a nation that spouts at least 17 different languages, is no mean feat. Perhaps no other historical figure in India  has enjoyed such a rare distinction. This was Gandhi’s forte, alone.

• Born in 1869, in Porbandar in the state of Gujarat into a Vaishya (merchant class) family, Gandhi was married at the age of 13 to Kasturba. He was an average student who studied law in England from 1888 to 1891. Before leaving India, his mother made him promise that he would abstain from meat, alcohol and sex. The years passed soon and Gandhi was back in Mumbai. It was time for his first and only case as a lawyer in India, and the man stood ineptly tongue-tied in court. The writing was on the wall, and Gandhi lost the case. His uncles packed him off to South Africa in 1893 to work for an Indian merchant involved in a civil suit.