Mohan to Mahatma

Gandhi was a pithy bloke.

During his rise from ambitious law student in England, principled barrister in South Africa, and political tiger in India, Gandhi became known for his principles, his philosophies and what he identified as a new form of 7 deadly sins. His unwavering morals and fearlessness in speaking out against hypocrisies, even among his most devoted followers, must have made him a difficult man to be with, but a beacon for his people as India demanded self-rule from Great Britain and achieved it in 1947.

We spent the morning at the house he spent his last 144 days at, and where he was assassinated almost exactly 72 years ago today, on January 30, 1948, arising from political and social issues related to independence.

the house in which his room was located,
and the site marked where he was killed by a gunman

his path marked with clay footprints

my wet footprints after walking on the wet grass

mural inside his prayer hut

with Nehru, India's first Prime Minister

I am sure this means something,
but it looks to me like a tree has dropped over for a spot of tea and conversation

young Mohandas

old Mahatma

outside the museum, on the site

The moniker Mahatma, which means "a great soul" in Hindi was bestowed on him in 1915 by poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore,but his real name at birth was Mohandas, called Mohan for short. Another name, or version of his name, was Gandhiji, as the suffix "ji" is used as a sign of respect in India.

There is an excellent small museum on site, where you can see his room and those few possessions he owned (his eyeglasses, pocket watch, cutlery and walking stick), but also a wonderful series of fusions between art, technology, education and performance theatre, without the theatre. One of our favourite pieces was a large than life sizeharp. If you plucked one string - any string - it sparked a video on teh side wall with children singing Gandhi's favourite song. And if you looked closely at the harp, you could see Gandhi's shadow. 

He definitely walked the walk, in his simple lifestyle, his adherence to change through nonviolence, and belief that religions should not dictate politics, avowing that:

“Religion is one tree with many branches. As branches, you may say, religions are many, but as a tree, religion is only one.”

He had many admirers, from politics and religions of course, but also from science, despite the fact that science was never a subject about which he gave much consideration. However, identifying the truth in any and all forms was something he did advocate, which is what all good scientists try to do.

It was that belief, not shared by all, that resulted in his assassination at the age of 79, walking in the garden to his prayer meeting on a calm winter's evening. He fought for one self-determining country, and was saddened with the partition of British India into the Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, following political demarcations along of religious lines. This split meant land was cut up into pieces with Pakistan and what later became Bangladesh separated by India, and the provinces of Punjab and Bengal divided as well. The region of Kashmir is still disputed between India and Pakistan. 

These new borders meant mass exoduses of refugees across the continent- Muslims in one direction and Hindus in the other, resulting in hundreds of thousands, some estimate millions, killed. Even more displaced. All this Gandhi foresaw and argued against, and indirectly caused his death at the hands of a Hindu nationalist. 

It is a calm spot now, the path Gandhi took from his room to the prayer meeting place and ultimate death marked by clay footprints. Reading the panels nearby, I was impressed even more by his sayings and philosophies, many now famous. And he was pithy, able to convey a lot in only a few words. Some of these:

In a gentle way, you can shake the world

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

The future depends on what we do in the present.

An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.

God has no religion.

His 7 deadly sins:

Politics without principles

Wealth without work

Pleasure without conscience

Knowledge without character

Commerce without morality

Science without humanity

Worship without sacrifice

But the one that resonates most with me, and that I try to follow all my life it:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow

Learn as it you were to live forever