First, let us wish Mr. Gandhi a Happy birthday. The man would have been 141 years old today. That's like old. I mean really really old.
To most of us here is the man who got us freedom. Father of the nation alias Bapu alias Gandhiji alias The man who gave us a holiday every year. So on this day apart from the half hearted happy birthdays we all wished him as it's Sunday, what else? Well, let's take a look at how Gandhi transformed our lives to this generation of India.
1. Without this man, What would our little sweet kids do for the Fancy Dress Competition. (Most forget his hairdo, ofcourse)
2. Money money money money! Bapu smiles like any of us will do on seeing money. Who minds what color it's in - yellow, green, blood red or Black. Gandhi now symbolizes denominations. It's our way of saying, Oh Gandhi is there , he approves of it too.
3. Gandhi Topis - the man made this as a symbol of Indian-ism, to counter the clay hats of the British. Now we can flaunt it from the fasts to Congress HQ. Its fashion.
4. Seen the ads in the newspapers on Oct 2? Newspapers mint money today. Times of India probably will even name their paper Times of Gandhi if some advertiser asks them to.
5. Dear Children, born in the 90's. No Gandhi didnt act in The Gandhi . That was Ben Kingsley.
6. Gandhi aka fasting. Misused and lost its charm. Period.
7. And yea, no liquor on this day. Sad, the man cannot celebrate his own party.
Sadly, this is one part of what he symbolizes to Gen X and further generations. Jokes apart, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is a brand that symbolizes the world of peace. Ahimsa is relevant to this day (but my MS Word doesn't recognize it as a word). There stands, the man and his ideology. The last few months increased my respect for this man. One example is the Anna movement. It takes so much of technology and backing from the media to call it a movement that had limited audiences. But Gandhi in times of no democracy and snail media moved an entire nation. That my friends, is magic. That shows the greatness of a man who was feeble in looks but a Himalaya in character.
If you could do one thing for this man who along with many others is allowing you and me to talk good and even bad about him aka democracy. Read and pour this in your brain.
Gandhi is Gandhi ! You can't replace his name with anyone else's. Give the man the space he requires, although he never asked for it.