Gandhiji: As I Perceive

Disclaimer: The views about Gandhiji are all my own and has no influence from any man or woman, dead or alive. All views are based on my reading over the years and most recently that of his autobiography.

I have liked Gandhiji ever since I came across his contributions in my high school history books. Movies like Gandhi and Making of Mahatma also helped in making a picture of the great man in my mind. I always found Gandhiji relevant in modern times as well. And this was well proved for any non-believer by the success of the movie, “Lagey Raho Munnabhai” which escalated the popularity of Sanjay Dutt and coined the word GANDHIGIRI.
Well such was the situation when one of my friends gifted Gandhiji’s autobiography four-five months back. I didn’t get much chance to go beyond few chapters because of academic obligations. This may I had the fortune to visit the Sabarmati ashram in Ahmedabad. The place again reconfirmed his greatness and I got back to the book as soon as I came back home. The speed ever increased after my NET examinations. Now I have finished four parts out of the five in the book.
The autobiography as we all know deals with his numerous experiments that led to salvation and truth. He had experimented with dietics, way of living and slowly and steadily had evolved into the man whom we adore and respect.
I do respect most of his experiments but I beg to differ with few of his experiments. I really don’t like the fact that he kept his sons and other youngsters in his South African and Indian ashrams devoid of any literary education. I realize that he wanted them to devote their life for the cause of the nation and the community. But I feel that it would have been better if they would have been educated because literary education does help in the matters in which he dealt with as was proved time and again by him and the other congress leaders. In this respect we could certainly mention Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar who despite being oppressed in every step since childhood did successfully put the causes of his fellow brethren because of his education. So, an educated man in reality is a bigger asset than any educated man.
His experiments with nursing and dietics are well known. But in his South African days he used to prevail his ideas over others and they used to obey him out of respect and love. Sometimes this appears more as stubbornness on his part. This stubbornness has been visible even later in his life which seems not good for a man of his stature. His blind belief on British government was also not a good virtue.
But it is to the credit of the man that he so well amalgamated into the Indian society. He blended well and well-led the freedom struggle when the nation had become leaderless after the death of Gokhale. Let every nation be blessed with such sons of soil.
SOME AFTERTHOUGHTS:
I have always condemned and still condemn the way Gandhiji died. It’s our misfortune that a man who always put words over bullets was killed by bullets of people who clearly misunderstood him.
We have put him everywhere from currency notes to road corners but have brought disgrace by not giving him the due respect he commands. The statues are seldom respected and money is used for good and bad equally. At least the bad should think twice before doing something evil with the piece of paper having the greatest son of soil inscribed on it.
And lastly regarding the abuses that are being hurled on him time and again which was repeated again by a leader.
Is it not the duty of the common man to at least extract respect for Gandhiji and publicly condemn the leaders who do such heinous things?