25/08/2024
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Moniya grew up as a shy kid and did not mix easily with the other children in school.
He had one friend, a boy named Uka, who was a sweeper-boy and an untouchable.
Growing up, Gandhi wanted to become a successful lawyer but they say everything is destined, which is why a small incident in South Africa where he was thrown out of the trail for being black and travelling in first class changed everything.
The not so conventionally successful and shy in person later turns out to be one of the greatest political leaders of the world. The person who was not able to fight his first case as a barrister properly, lead millions of people later.
Gandhi was a doer, he never liked to waste time and believed in utilizing every minute for some purpose.
For Gandhi, truth, nonviolence and upliftment of lower class people was his entire philosophy of life.
He was frail man with a will of iron. He looked like a simple Hindu holy man but armed only with great courage and a stong commitment to nonviolent resistance.
Satyagraha was Gandhi's conception of "truth force". This demonstrated the converting power of the movement.
He shaped India's Independence struggle by uniting people in mass and launched different movements and he successfully shook British Empire without using any violence.
His non-violence method inspired so many world wide leaders for civil rights movements which began to
transform the course of even the most powerful nation in history.
For Upliftment of lower class people, he himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the 'bhangi' (the sweepers), and tried persuading upper castes to change their heart and give up 'the sin of untouchability'.
This was Mahatama Gandhi as a man. A man of moral and strong will. These are just some of the ways Mahatma Gandhi changed the world, probably the largest way being the public perception of India, Hinduism, and the culture of our nation.
His values were as relevant yesterday as they are today and will remain so in the future. There is much to learn from his life and noble thoughts.
