Generally, when I read books, I don't read with much expectations or excitement. I read them just for reading. But, I am starting with a book now with lots of excitement. I am not a judge, but I have divergent views on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and his leadership. But, in recent times, by hearing and reading articles, I have started seeing more positives in Gandhi and his way of life. My Chemistry professor, Dr Seetharaman who I know for last 15 years and, for me, he is my God Father, many times said me I follow Gandhi principles (eating Parle-G biscuits, Groundnut-jaggery cakes/chikki) I didn't take them seriously. Even though he earned well, yet, I have found his house to be following a very very a minimalistic style. But those days I didn't realise. Only in recent times, when I was thinking, I did realize it was Gandhian way of living. So these observations gave me more drive to read his autobiography. It is "Gandhi - The Story of My Experiments with Truth". This book
(translated from Gujarathi) is an autobiography by Mahathma Gandhi. I am not reading this book to become a Mahatma but to digest the message. And, I hope, I get much needed insights, essence for me and my self.
My reading so far; how it started; who made it?
I am not an avid reader. I didn't had any
reading habit when I passed my college in 2005. I was more afraid of
the jargons and vocabularies used. But my friend Lourdu Xavier who
showed me a way that I should "travel" and enjoy. I started with an epic
novel Ponniyin Selvan in Tamil. What more best novel can I ask to start
with. I had only competed first part by end of 2005. After which I
travel across places which gave me junk reasons to procrastinate. But
some of wonderful friends, namely Balasubramani Arunachalam, MPC, Rajesh Sundarraj, Shankar S, Sundaresan KM, RT, Nagamani
Raajan, AM and of course Lourdu Xavier, -colleagues inspired
me with their wonderful language and maturity. And I could sense well
that they are very good readers. And, in July 2008, I moved to New Delhi.
It gave me wonderful time to read books. I started cultivating the
habit slowly. But I was irregular. As a fan of carnatic music, it
happened for me follow Mr Sanjay Subramanyham's website. There, the best thing
that happened for me was the Book Read Challenge he had posted from GoodrReads.com. I too registered my self with 10 book that year (though
it is low, but I felt it is good a number to start with). And today, I
have read around 40 books. I don't take pride in those numbers. But I
realized I do can read novels, auto-biographies, short stories,
spiritual books and most importantly they help me realize my self.
Though I was initially tempted, but one thing I have so far avoided was
self-help/management books - again inspired from a note (with wisdom) on
a casual chat with a friend Muthu Kumaran. Now, in Korea, in April 2013
I have good time. To a certain extent I am have made good use of my
time in reading books. Going forward I long to read more books on
various topics. And, one person who constantly encouraged me was my beloved grand mother Srimathi Saraswathi Subramanian. Till her teenage she was a very good reader. But post marriage, her reading got limited to magazines. I am glad I rekindled her interest in books and reopened her windows and give her good number of Tamil books.
Things in my Shelf are : Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Thuppariyum Sambu, The Idiot, Paths of Glory, etc
Wishing that my self grows as I grow.
துன்பத்திற்கு இடம் கொடேல்.
துன்பத்திற்கு இடம் கொடேல்.
Meaning: Don't allow sadness to occupy you
Do you know Gandhi flirted with at least one young lady in England when he was already married and father of a boy?! Actor Kamal Hassan used to say by addressing Gandhi as mahatma we made him an ideal person .. who cannot be followed :-( Gandhi for all his impressive qualities started as shy boy who ate meat,stole money from parents etc .. yet he became a great reformer who was followed by millions.The book is not engaging but you can sustain the interest by reading one chapter or few chapters in a week.Happy Reading :-)
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ReplyDelete@Viswanathan: I completed reading this book. I completely disagree with you. This autobiography is such a frank writing by Gandhi. He didn't speak about Girls (doesn't mean he might have flirted with girls). But he very clearly says the importance of Bramachaarya. And in one instance, he explains about his relationship(friendship) with a London girl. The letter he writes down is so mature, where he says that he is afraid that the lady is meaning the relatisonship in anotherway. You must read it.
And Gandhi, said he had ate meat once with his friend, because his friend ill guided him that if we eat meat then he can get lots of strength to control others. And after that one instance he never ate meat. In fact when he and his wife had operations, dysentry, fever etc he never had milk, beef etc and even injections (bcos for many years he thought injections were made out of serums).
Kamal Haasan might have said like what you have said ( by addressing Gandhi as mahatma we made him an ideal person .. who cannot be followed). But what Kamal met is, following Gandhi is not difficult, it is only that extra step and committment to truth is what that makes difference. And for your information, Kamal is a great fan of Gandhi.
The second half of Part 5 was bit not engaging. Nevertheless it is an awesome writing.
Overall, this book is must read for anyone, especially in the age group 20-30 years.
@Rajesh - What is there to disagree with me? In chapter 19 The Canker of Untruth he had written the following exact sentence
ReplyDelete"I did not hesitate to pass myself off as a bachelor, though I was married and the father of a son"
What a big Lie?! It is not a slip of tongue lie for one time .He met at least two girls and in particular he met London girl many times. He writes
“Particularly marked out for these conversation was a young lady who stayed with her, and often we would be left entirely alone together.”
“I could not start a conversation, nor could I indulge in any jokes. But she put me in the way. I began to learn; and in course of time looked forward to every Sunday and came to like the conversations with the young friend.”
Though he write about her as “young friend “ the old lady who acted as match maker and the “young friend” definitely would had other ideas because as he had himself stated they would be deliberately left alone.
As for the apology letter you have to note
“The old lady went on spreading her net wider every day. She felt interested in our meetings. Possibly she had her own plans about us.”
I.e. only when things went beyond a point and may be towards a relationship status Gandhi realised the gravity of the situation.
I had not given these references to paint him as villain. All I am saying is he was normal human who became mahatma. Please note that I had written
“Gandhi for all his impressive qualities started as shy boy who ate meat,stole money from parents etc .. yet he became a great reformer who was followed by millions”
Dude.. To me, your first comment was not trying to give a good impression of Gandhi... And more over the book was not not engaging.. rather to me it was really engaging... all through out book he has carefully left the out of scope things completely out...
ReplyDeleteAfter this, I was discussing my TEL manager, and suggested me that.. Freedom at Midnight is also an awesome book where we can get a good dharshan of Gandhi and how is kept out of all bureaucratic meetings and where Nehru more or less dominated Jinnah since 1940..
At old age he must have realised the the mistake he almost made.Probably that is the reason the chapter is titled as
ReplyDelete"The Canker of Untruth"
:-)
oh oh .. so Gandhi nallavara kettavara ? ;-)
ReplyDeletenormal manithana irunthu (both good and bad) romba nallavana anvuru(Vadivelu style) ..
ReplyDelete:-)Rajini once said he cannot write auto biography because in such case he has to write the truth but truth will create problem .. will hurt problem... see the openness and forthrightness of Gandhi :-)
you are in sync with me boss.. Indha Rajini' idhai naan kooda neraya perukku solli irukken..
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Gandhi is a great visioner, communicator, organisor. We need two more Gandhi's 1) to free from these politicians and 2) groom right minded politicians
I liked many things in that auto-bio. He speaks about travelling in 3rd class in South Africa and India in train.. and he says what must be done to eradicate these difference.. it is rather sad that, even after 100 years yes 100 years we have a very dirty railway system..