Happy Birthday Gandhi-ji!

Early in my coin collecting days I came across what was even then in short supply - a brass "Gandhi" 20 paisa piece. The coin was minted in 1969 to celebrate the birth centenary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - better known as 'Gandhiji.'

Since I was born in 1969 the coin had a special pull for me. The coins were in short supply because the value of the brass had soon outstripped the 20 paisa it was representing - and hoarders collected them and melted the coins down for the metal value alone.

The portrait is also a bit strange, as he bears a faintly plump look which is a bit at odds with his iconic mode of austerity.

October the 2nd was the day when Mohandas was born to an aspirational middle-class (if such a term existed them) family in Porbandar, Gujarat state. If Gandhi were alive today, he would have turned a ripe 140 years on this day.

Our kids have a holiday on the occasion of 'Gandhi Jayanti' but of the man there seems to be little left in the public discourse. Having won freedom for the British - there seemed very little place for him in free India too. The place where we see him the most now-a-days is on all our bank notes. There is a certain poetic justice to this - since the trading community he came from is known for their astuteness and business enterprise. Many of the shop-keepers around us are Gujarathis - but they do not stick out as clearly as they do in East Africa (for example) since there are other trading communities as well (such as from the desert areas of Marwar in Rajasthan) and the general mish-mash of our society means that even our often vociferous 'sons-of-the-soil' do not raise too harsh a voice against hard-working internal migrants.

Whether Gandhi could have imaged the India of today is another matter. With great strides come great responsibilities too. While our industry (thanks in a large part to the Gujarati community) seems to have weathered the global recession relatively well - we continue to see yawning gaps in incomes.

On this 'International Day of Peace' the news is that 16 people were gunned down by Naxalite (i.e. ultra Maoist) forces in Bihar. The same Bihar state that Gandhi tramped up and down trying to keep from secessionist flames has gone from being a jewel in India to being a state synonymous with corruption and nepotism. At least 20,000 people have died in the recent decades of low-grade struggle by the Red forces in our nation's jungle belt.

The government has decided to remember Gandhi by renaming its flagship rural employment scheme after the great soul.

What is missing is the essential energy of the man. While there are many issues that we can legitimately disagree with Gandhi - at least he had some ideas. At least he wrote (copiously in fact). At least he publicly put things to debate and was alive to so many facets of life and society.

Take a look at our leaders of today.

The picture on the right says it all.

A group of toadies. "Washing" a statue of Gandhi. With milk.

Of all the absurd things to do.

How about actually helping young widows look after their children and seeing that the milk goes down the throats of young children, rather than washing bird-droppings off a statue?

Gandhi has become today whatever anyone wants him to be. A malleable icon that can be safely appliqued on whatever we would like.

Would that our current generation would get their hands off the gaming consoles, or off the study-to-get-into-a-prestigious-college-and-then-get-a-fat-paycheck books, and actually get our hands dirty serving. Our Lord Jesus - from whom Gandhi claimed receiving inspiration from - said that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Not possible to do virtually. We have to actually put our hearts into our hands and step out of our comfort zones - and into the lives of others.

Happy Birthday Gandhi-ji - you have left us with a lot to do!