I had been to ahmdabad this weekend, my brother had got admission in the CEPT university. Like any big cities it has all the modern facilities, malls, cinema halls, all the place where a foodie can go berserk, good places for couples and friends to hang out.... nice roads, decent crowd, sweet spoken people. All in all a nice place which we can call as a glimpse of modern India. Its 2012 and looking at the picture we can proudly say yes we have achieved a lot if not the picture perfect scenario.
Not a long time ago in a place on the outskirts of the same city in the court of his house on the banks of sabarmati river stood a bespectacled lawyer which contrary to his achieved status wore a dhoti, resolutely holding a lathi in his hand, gazing stoically at the first gentle hopeful rays of sun heralding the beginning of a new day with aspirations for the new BHARAT he is going to shape. He looks at the soft bellowing waves and gentle melodious sounds of the river and takes in the peaceful view, takes in inspirations from its vastness, its abundance, tender love for the people who seek its water. He looks back and sees me through the ages at present standing behind him, smiles... and asks me in affectionate fatherly tone "u know you are standing in the same place i stood not so many years ago and as i look through your eyes i see the independent bharat i had imagined every single day, but do you think u r content.. do you think you have achieved so much as to not require me anymore"....
I stood for a while, considering what had just happened. I shook my head in disbelieve.... did i just experience an episode of "chemical locha"... The moment i had entered these revered grounds i had felt it a place apart from the "Modern India" developing around. As i walked in hridaya kunj, i had glimpses of him spinning the charkha, talking with the contemprory dignitries of those times... imagining the hardships and sacrifices each of the great men had endured, man!!! how can these people be so strong, they look just like any other indian... i feel a hand on my shoulder, the bespectacled man says " what r u looking at? u can easily be one of them, its just a matter of believing ur inner strengths"... hah!! i laugh!! there is no such thing... its just a temporary feeling which gets washed away in mildest of storms.. he continues to smile at me and says nothing.. I walk away from him, i check the inner rooms, walk about, take some pictures, snigger at my silly thought " i am walking at the same place he walked in his time, i am walking in his footsteps"
Went into the museum, read a few of his words of wisdom, spend some time contemplating on it... browsed through a few books at the ashram's stall. Contemplating about his thoughts, i didt realise when i was on the lawn, stumbled upon his statue, woken up from the reverie... looked up to see his statue smiling at me... i dusted of my pants and sat on the bench facing him... thinking 'can we, today's indians really be what you want you want us to be'... he laughed and told me " no my dear you can be whatever u want yourself to be, thats the gift of "freedom" i have given you - to be true to urself"
As i walk back out of the place i see a road ahead, is this the road created by the efforts of all those great people or is it just another "M.G. road" for us which we see in many of the cities? Is he going to be hung as a garlanded photograph on the walls of schools and offices, a statue in gardens and chowks or is he going to create "chemical locha" with a difference in all these people, his legacy?....
The question to be asked to ourselves is are we content in what we r as a human being, as a citizen of india..... can we be the replicas of mahatma gandhi's , jawaharlal nehru's , vallabh bhai patel's , subhaschandra bose's, swatantrya veer sawarkar's.......... I say "No we r not cowards, we can wield the strengths of those who created this country" and walked into the drones of my countrymen....
Not a long time ago in a place on the outskirts of the same city in the court of his house on the banks of sabarmati river stood a bespectacled lawyer which contrary to his achieved status wore a dhoti, resolutely holding a lathi in his hand, gazing stoically at the first gentle hopeful rays of sun heralding the beginning of a new day with aspirations for the new BHARAT he is going to shape. He looks at the soft bellowing waves and gentle melodious sounds of the river and takes in the peaceful view, takes in inspirations from its vastness, its abundance, tender love for the people who seek its water. He looks back and sees me through the ages at present standing behind him, smiles... and asks me in affectionate fatherly tone "u know you are standing in the same place i stood not so many years ago and as i look through your eyes i see the independent bharat i had imagined every single day, but do you think u r content.. do you think you have achieved so much as to not require me anymore"....
I stood for a while, considering what had just happened. I shook my head in disbelieve.... did i just experience an episode of "chemical locha"... The moment i had entered these revered grounds i had felt it a place apart from the "Modern India" developing around. As i walked in hridaya kunj, i had glimpses of him spinning the charkha, talking with the contemprory dignitries of those times... imagining the hardships and sacrifices each of the great men had endured, man!!! how can these people be so strong, they look just like any other indian... i feel a hand on my shoulder, the bespectacled man says " what r u looking at? u can easily be one of them, its just a matter of believing ur inner strengths"... hah!! i laugh!! there is no such thing... its just a temporary feeling which gets washed away in mildest of storms.. he continues to smile at me and says nothing.. I walk away from him, i check the inner rooms, walk about, take some pictures, snigger at my silly thought " i am walking at the same place he walked in his time, i am walking in his footsteps"
Went into the museum, read a few of his words of wisdom, spend some time contemplating on it... browsed through a few books at the ashram's stall. Contemplating about his thoughts, i didt realise when i was on the lawn, stumbled upon his statue, woken up from the reverie... looked up to see his statue smiling at me... i dusted of my pants and sat on the bench facing him... thinking 'can we, today's indians really be what you want you want us to be'... he laughed and told me " no my dear you can be whatever u want yourself to be, thats the gift of "freedom" i have given you - to be true to urself"
As i walk back out of the place i see a road ahead, is this the road created by the efforts of all those great people or is it just another "M.G. road" for us which we see in many of the cities? Is he going to be hung as a garlanded photograph on the walls of schools and offices, a statue in gardens and chowks or is he going to create "chemical locha" with a difference in all these people, his legacy?....
The question to be asked to ourselves is are we content in what we r as a human being, as a citizen of india..... can we be the replicas of mahatma gandhi's , jawaharlal nehru's , vallabh bhai patel's , subhaschandra bose's, swatantrya veer sawarkar's.......... I say "No we r not cowards, we can wield the strengths of those who created this country" and walked into the drones of my countrymen....
