Peace sign

I adore this hand-painted billboard, that I snapped near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh three years ago.

It depicts a Jain saint seated peacefully among animals, and (in Telugu script, but Sanskrit language) says "Ahimsa paramo dharma," or, "Nonviolence is the greatest religion." 



Related reading:
Religion and Culture of the Jains.

Museum musing

Today, I had to go back to the FRRO on ManSingh Road. You turn in your papers (for request of visa extension) between 10 and 12 "only," wait till they accept them which usually takes till 2.30 or so, and return at 4.30pm.

I had two hours, so I went round the corner back to Gandhi Smriti. Today the power was on, and I enjoyed the exhaustive and state-of-the-art interactive museum upstairs on the first floor. There are all manner of multimedia displays and lots of great vintage film footage.

Still, the most effective parts of the museum are the most personal and the simplest. This time inside Gandhi's room, I noticed something in the corner I didn't see yesterday. Two pairs of the wooden sandals, and a walking stick. These weren't in a glass case, but just leaned up against a corner, as though Gandhi were coming right back for them. I just started crying.

Fortunately, there was a modern metal chair right there (maybe other people have been overcome seeing the room) and I sank down into it. The shy young museum guide in her khadi uniform was watching me from the corner, halfway pretending not to notice, and halfway curious. Finally she approached me.

"Which country?"

"I am from USA," I said, choking back tears.

"You are very inspired by Gandhiji?"

I nodded mutely, sniffing.

She smiled as knowingly as a 20 year old possibly could. "I think you are a friend of Gandhiji," she said, as though I were someone who had actually known him.

A friend of Gandhiji. I had to smile. "Yes, a friend." I was trying hard not to cry openly as I knew I had to look decent to go back to the Foreigner's Office and I didn't want to have a red nose and runny kajal down my face.

Ruby turned out to be a history major who was volunteering in her spare time. I was extremely heartened to hear that people are still majoring in history. All I have met since I arrived in India are engineering and B Comm students.

Anyway, the wireless place is closing now and I have to sign off.

In the footsteps

Gandhi's Ghosts
Delhi

Thanks to my incredible lack of foresight, I have only a minute on the laptop battery this time, but that's enough to tell about a very overlooked, and centrally located, Delhi historical site.

Most guidebooks mention Raj Ghat, the location where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. (This site was in the news in 2006 when George W. Bush paid a visit. Some people complained about the hypocrisy. I think, if anyone ever needed to get Gandhi's vibes, it would be Dubya.)

But very few guidebooks (none that I have yet seen) seem to mention Gandhi Smriti. This is the house and gardens where Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist hardliner, and died on 30 January, 1947. The road is now called Tees January Marg (30th January Road). The building was formerly known as Birla House. For various reasons (explained in the exhibit) Gandhi stayed, for the final 144 days of his life, as a guest of the wealthy Birla industrialists, rather than among the poorer neighborhoods as was his habit.

Admission is free, which seems appropriate, but I certainly wouldn't mind paying a bit to support it.

It's more than worthy of your time. At the moment, Gandhi Smriti hosts an exhaustive photo exhibit of events leading up to the 1857 War of Independence (formerly called the Sepoy Mutiny). It all looked very informative but I just could not digest all the historical information in one standing - I was too overcome with Gandhi's vibe.

I'm neither one of those foreign Gandhi-worshippers who think he was a saint, nor one of the cynics who takes joy in poking holes in him. To me he was a man, and that makes what he achieved and represented all the more amazing.

I am also aware that some historians, and Indians, and Indian historians, say he and his contributions aren't all they were cracked up to be. I'm sure they have a point, and someday I will get around to reading the rebuttals. But today I just bathed in Gandhi's energy, which is still all over the room and garden.

Especially moving is a glass wall case holding his very few worldly possessions, including the famous pair of round eyeglasses. I got a weird flash-forward (or is it backward?) to John Lennon and his schoolboy specs.

In keeping with Hindu tradition (but rather eerie for those not accustomed to this) are the footsteps set in stone, in the shape of traditional wooden sandals. I think they are called paduka. They immortalize Gandhi's last walk from the ground-floor room, where he lived on a jute mat and mattress on the floor, to the garden for the final prayer meeting.

A flowering tree with vivid pink blooms grows right above the doorway, showering petals down on the path. I picked up a handful and placed one on each paduka. I was surprised that more offerings weren't there. The exact spot where Gandhi fell (uttering "hey Ram") is marked with a marble column.

The final panel in the Independence exhibit was headed, "Let it not be said that Gandhi was party to India's vivisection." He is then quoted as saying something along the lines of "I pray that God not let me see the division of India" (Partition of India and Pakistan). Since I am neither Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Muslim nor Hindu, I can't explain logically the very deep resistance and resentment I have always felt about the Partition. But at least I know I am not alone in my strong feelings.

A power cut stopped short my viewing of the indoor exhibits, which seemed strangely appropriate. And so, too, is my laptop battery cutting short this post.

Burma's burning

Mind on Myanmar ----
Body in Leh, Ladakh, J&K India



At left is a photo of my friends, some Burmese monks now studying in New Nalanda University, Bihar. Although Buddhism has not been a majority religion in India for about 1000 years, India remains a centre of Buddhist learning. These Burmese monks have come to study the sacred, ancient Pali language here.

Thoughts of the brave monks and civilians still in Burma, who are being killed while protesting the Burmese junta, are on my mind. This is the only Burma-related photo I have.

All the banks, schools and government offices are closed here today.

It's Gandhi Jayanthi, or Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi's birthday - a major national holiday throughout India. Gandhi is revered throughout India for obvious reasons, but especially in Buddhist areas for his commitment to non-violence (his photo is up in shoppes all over Dharamsala, next to the Dalai Lama's).

Ahimsa or non-violence (including vegetarianism) is a central concept in Buddhism, first developed by the Jains, and later adopted by some Hindus. Jains were especially prominent in Gandhi's homestate of Gujarat and it is believed they were a great influence on his philosophy.

There have been several recent attempts to malign Gandhi's saintly image by "telling the truth" about his personal life and relations with his family. Who cares - the guy never claimed to be a saint (that was thrust upon him, as was his role in Indian history - read the bio, he just wanted to be a middle class lawyer) and no one is perfect.

Nor need they be. The bottom line (as with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was later shown to have had affairs and such) is, "is the world generally a better place because of this person?" Who could answer "no"? (by the way, if your answer is "no," for either one, please do not write to me. I mean it.)

I think a lot of modern Indians have a great need to show how "modern," "progressive" and irreligious they are by knocking down sacred cows and icons. Perhaps I would feel the same if I had grown up in such an icon-worshipping, hierarchical environment. I saw the same stuff happen at the Dalai Lama press conference in Andhra Pradesh. Wow, I sure was impressed with the "impartiality" those commie "reporters" (propagandists) showed by being disrespectful and rude to the Dalai Lama! Really demonstrated open-mindedness and progressive thinking!

Reactionary is reactionary - regardless of the direction in which you're reacting.

Burma bummer
However, I digress. Today's headlines were - I hate the word ironic, it is so overused. I'll just say the headlines regarding the situation in Burma (Myanmar) would be horrifying on any day, but especially today.

Hundreds killed, thousands arrested (includes photo of dead monk floating in river)
In photos: Burma crackdown (mostly shots of blocked city streets - looks like Kathmandu)
photos from Flickr members in Burma now
Burmese monks "to be sent away" to distant mass prisons
Satellite imagery shows Burmese plight
Losing hope inside a Burmese monastery

Okay, I'm going to say one last thing regarding armchair critics of Gandhi, King, HH the Dalai Lama, whoever. Actually, Teddy Roosevelt (26th US President) is going to say it.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”