Well,this was something I prepared for a contest offered by government of India(a letter on "Dear bapu,you inspire me")but oops! was late by one day.So,I was not able to post the letter and since I have to start off with something,here goes my first blog....
Dear bapu,
For some you are limited to those currency notes while for many to a wooden framed smiling portrait of yours with 'Mahatma Gandhi' written at the bottom.
For some you are limited to a date of October while for many to statue on the chowk with a pigeon sitting on your head which they cross by each day on their way to offices.But bapu for me neither you are limited to those currency notes nor to a photo frame,neither to a date nor to a stone.Then,what?When a woman comes out with a broom in her hand with those 'gobar gali' kids jumping around her in an enthusiasm to free it from 'gobar',she looks at me, for her eyes meeting just for a sec, I see you.Yes ,bapu,I see you there with the 'toli'.When each morning,the lady ragpicker comes asking for the trash asks my mother to wash her hands,quench her thirst and serve her a cup of tea ,I see my mother running through the kitchen fulfilling her demands and then she whispers yesterday's incident of how a woman turned her head with no reply on her demands (note that not all do the same), sticking my ears to their conversation,a proud daughter see you bapu in my mom... And then I recall what you said about these 'children of god'. When those small kids carrying something in their hands with an expression of hiding the matters from their parents, bandage an injured squirrel, I remember what you said-"the greatness of a nation and moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated".With those filthy hands and afraid eyes glued at me,I see you bapu in them.Yes,I do.69 years have passed since your demise but the traces of your believes is embedded in every corner of India. And the more I notice you,the more you inspire me.Your principles of honesty,truthfulness, punctuality are taught to us from our schools but never did we engage ourselves to search as to who first presented them.It was you bapu. Neither we go for dandi march nor we go for Quit India Movement today but your small steps of 241 miles see their impact today.The way your andolan knocked each door for independence in the same way, not for independence but for national issues we run on roads demanding our rights and changes.You dreamt of an India which know its rights and see,this journey of metamorphosis of 70 years have transformed India a bit to what you dreamt. But bapu sorry to say,your principle of ahimsa is becoming a difficult path to follow.Your wish for 'peace' today remains on the table in those cranky pages in the for walled rooms of those men in white.You wanted to see a world that rises from the dusk of violence to the dawn of peace.But bapu,my heart sinks to inform you that the entire world hold meetings, they honour and respect you but this dawn of peace is now limited to their speeches before elections and this dish is never served for us to taste rather at the back each country portraits itself more powerful stronger not with the tool of peace but with nuclear weapons.But bapu,just like you as a person became a wind of change in the atrocities, in the same way,longing for a change,a change that can bring peace all around from India to Pakistan,from America to Korea,I wish to stand and you are and will always be an inspiration in this journey.They say you are no longer alive but see,I traced you down,tracking you each time around me.While penning down these lines,I feel proud to call myself an Indian.An Indian who comes from a land where a man in dhoti with round spectacles on his wrinkled face never fired a bullet, never thrashed a man,never pelted stones,pulled a country from 200 years of darkness.Bapu,we owe you something? Yes,we do.I'll tell you what
Aazadi ki sansein
Sukuun bhari rate in
Aur haan,ek baekhof zindagi
In hope that once again a mahatma, a bapu will stand but this time not as a human as a soch,as a vision.As a human you left us all with your charkha,your slippers and yes!your Sabarmati ashram and as a soul,a vision which one day will become a tool for change for a better and peaceful world........
A tribute to our Sabramati me sant
Dear bapu,
For some you are limited to those currency notes while for many to a wooden framed smiling portrait of yours with 'Mahatma Gandhi' written at the bottom.
For some you are limited to a date of October while for many to statue on the chowk with a pigeon sitting on your head which they cross by each day on their way to offices.But bapu for me neither you are limited to those currency notes nor to a photo frame,neither to a date nor to a stone.Then,what?When a woman comes out with a broom in her hand with those 'gobar gali' kids jumping around her in an enthusiasm to free it from 'gobar',she looks at me, for her eyes meeting just for a sec, I see you.Yes ,bapu,I see you there with the 'toli'.When each morning,the lady ragpicker comes asking for the trash asks my mother to wash her hands,quench her thirst and serve her a cup of tea ,I see my mother running through the kitchen fulfilling her demands and then she whispers yesterday's incident of how a woman turned her head with no reply on her demands (note that not all do the same), sticking my ears to their conversation,a proud daughter see you bapu in my mom... And then I recall what you said about these 'children of god'. When those small kids carrying something in their hands with an expression of hiding the matters from their parents, bandage an injured squirrel, I remember what you said-"the greatness of a nation and moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated".With those filthy hands and afraid eyes glued at me,I see you bapu in them.Yes,I do.69 years have passed since your demise but the traces of your believes is embedded in every corner of India. And the more I notice you,the more you inspire me.Your principles of honesty,truthfulness, punctuality are taught to us from our schools but never did we engage ourselves to search as to who first presented them.It was you bapu. Neither we go for dandi march nor we go for Quit India Movement today but your small steps of 241 miles see their impact today.The way your andolan knocked each door for independence in the same way, not for independence but for national issues we run on roads demanding our rights and changes.You dreamt of an India which know its rights and see,this journey of metamorphosis of 70 years have transformed India a bit to what you dreamt. But bapu sorry to say,your principle of ahimsa is becoming a difficult path to follow.Your wish for 'peace' today remains on the table in those cranky pages in the for walled rooms of those men in white.You wanted to see a world that rises from the dusk of violence to the dawn of peace.But bapu,my heart sinks to inform you that the entire world hold meetings, they honour and respect you but this dawn of peace is now limited to their speeches before elections and this dish is never served for us to taste rather at the back each country portraits itself more powerful stronger not with the tool of peace but with nuclear weapons.But bapu,just like you as a person became a wind of change in the atrocities, in the same way,longing for a change,a change that can bring peace all around from India to Pakistan,from America to Korea,I wish to stand and you are and will always be an inspiration in this journey.They say you are no longer alive but see,I traced you down,tracking you each time around me.While penning down these lines,I feel proud to call myself an Indian.An Indian who comes from a land where a man in dhoti with round spectacles on his wrinkled face never fired a bullet, never thrashed a man,never pelted stones,pulled a country from 200 years of darkness.Bapu,we owe you something? Yes,we do.I'll tell you what
Aazadi ki sansein
Sukuun bhari rate in
Aur haan,ek baekhof zindagi
In hope that once again a mahatma, a bapu will stand but this time not as a human as a soch,as a vision.As a human you left us all with your charkha,your slippers and yes!your Sabarmati ashram and as a soul,a vision which one day will become a tool for change for a better and peaceful world........
A tribute to our Sabramati me sant
