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Gandhi's message of compassion is still relevant today

He had unique ability to win over even his most doughty opponents (the sandals have an honoured place in a museum in Johannesburg).

Today is the 150th birth anniversary of one of the most remarkable personalities of the 20th century, somebody who led not only his own country, India, to independence, but whose influence spread to all corners of the globe. Among the many people who were inspired by him were Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
I am, of course, referring to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma (meaning great soul) Gandhi. I propose in this column to tell briefly about his life and then illustrate his personality through anecdotes and his quotes.
He was born in Porbandar, Gujarat, and came from a middle class family. He married Kasturbai and went to London to train as a lawyer. A legal case took him to South Africa, then the land of Apartheid, where non-whites, including Indians, were discriminated against and treated as second-class citizens.
After several productive years in South Africa, he returned to India to take part in the movement for independence from British rule, which was finally achieved on August 15, 1947. On January 30, 1948, he was assassinated by a rightwing Hindu fanatic, who felt Gandhi was being too pro-Pakistan.
To go back, Gandhi's South African experience made him put into practice his tactics of non-violence and satyagraha (policy of passive political resistance, which literally means the force of truth), while fighting for the rights of Indians in that country. A key moment came when he sat with a valid first-class ticket in a train, but was bodily thrown out on to the platform by two white South Africans who could not tolerate the presence of a "coolie" in their compartment. Gandhi spent the whole night on the platform, in mortified contemplation, determined to change the status of Indians.
His main opponent in South Africa was another unusual man, General Jan Christian Smuts, the prime minster of the country. Smuts was responsible for Gandhi spending long spells in South African jails, but he bore no hatred or ill will towards Gandhi. On the other hand, he clearly admired the Indian's great qualities. During one of his spells in prison, Gandhi fashioned a pair of sandals, which he sent to Smuts. When Gandhi was finally returning to India, in the cabin of his ship he found a small parcel, with a note from the South African prime minister. The parcel contained the same sandals made by Gandhi and the note read: "I have worn these sandals for many a summer . even though I may feel that I am not worthy to stand in the shoes of so great a man. It was my fate to be the antagonist of a man for whom even then I had the highest respect."
That anecdote illustrates one of the many wonderful qualities of the Mahatma: His unique ability to win over even his most doughty opponents (the sandals have an honoured place in a museum in Johannesburg). Though he was spiritually inclined, Gandhi was also entirely practical.
Two of my favourite anecdotes illustrate this. Once when he was getting on a moving train, one of his sandals slipped off his foot and landed on the ground. Without a moment's hesitation he picked up the second sandal and threw it in the direction of the first sandal.
"Why did you do that?" asked his astonished companion.
"Because if somebody finds the first sandal, perhaps he might find the second one as well," came the Mahatma's matter-of-fact reply.
On another occasion, he was asked to lay the foundation stone of a project. He declined, adding that when the project was completed, he would happily come to lay the completion stone!
But my favourite story, which is also related in Richard Attenborough's masterpiece movie, Gandhi , shows the man's compassion. On May 2, 1946, an important meeting was taking place at the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, where Gandhi spent much of his time. Sir Stafford Cripps, Lord Pethwick Lawrence, and important Indian leaders, along with Gandhi, were discussing the transfer of power from the British to an independent India. Gandhi left in the middle of the meeting to apply a mudpack to the sprained leg of his goat.
"It surprises me that for such a trifle he had to break the decorum of our meeting," huffed Sir Lawrence.
"It is these trifles that have made Gandhi a Mahatma," replied Maulana Azad, one of the nationalist leaders.
Gandhi later returned to the meeting, saying that the pain suffered by his goat was more important to him than the meeting.
Gandhi had an impish sense of humour. Sir Winston Churchill, no admirer of the man, once derisively called him "a half-naked fakir". And in fact, when he was invited to the Buckingham Palace by King George V, he wore his usual loincloth, was bare-chested, with a shawl thrown over his shoulders, and wearing sandals without socks.
Later when asked if he was properly dressed, he replied: "The king had enough on for both of us." It's a perfect riposte.
Rahul Singh is a former Editor of Khaleej Times