Tuesday, October 02, 2012

What does Gandhi Jayanti mean to you?

October 2nd, ladies and gentlemen! Ideally, this day should mean a lot to us for a certain reason. Or, for a certain individual. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Or Gandhiji. Or Bapu. Or the Father of the Nation. Or for today's generation - Gandhi. Address him the way you want to, he will remain the person who, through non-violence and perseverance, removed the British raj and made us "free". Atleast, we were free those days.

Speaking of Gandhiji, I am sure many people, especially today's youngsters, will remember his (suspected) wild ways. Character assassination is our favorite hobby, after all. And social media has done its part in spreading the "stories" that we ourselves cannot validate. However, we still love to read those stories and make our own judgement regarding people. Gandhiji is one such person. His 'apparent' womanizing ways is very well documented in the social media world. Now, I don't know if that is true and honestly, I don't care either. What he did or did not do in his personal life is none of my business. I only care for the struggles he took along with all the freedom fighters to ensure we have a free life. Which, I don't think, we have anymore.

Kind courtesy: webdunia.com
Anyways, this post is not to defend Gandhiji. This morning, I was thinking how different people from different walks of life would think of Gandhi Jayanti. This is purely my thought process based on what I have seen and heard and may not always be true. You may or may not relate to any one of the below. 

Lets look at the political class first:
  • Ruling party: We remember Gandhiji this day as the person whose ideals we still follow and hope the country follows the same too. We would like to pay our homage to Gandhiji. Where's the media? We want this to be captured for tomorrow's front page sponsored article news headline.
  • Opposition party: Unlike the ruling party who just follow the ideals of Gandhiji, we truly respect the father of the nation. We walk the talk. We are doing what Gandhiji did during the British raj. That time, Britishers were ruling our country. Now, Italians are ruling. (Sad case of Indian politics. Both the ruling and opposition party knows how to "use" this day for their benefit) 

Let's look at the common man:
  • Cricket fanatics: Thank God we have a holiday to watch 2 important matches in the WT20 2012 championship. India is playing today. Why are we having a holiday today? Ohh, it's Gandhi's birthday! Atleast, he did something for this generation by having a holiday declared for his birthday.
  • Holiday deprived employees: It's already evening? I slept the whole day without even realizing that I have to enjoy my holiday. Damn it! When is the next holiday?
  • Extended Weekend families: Time to return home today. Had a great weekend thanks to a holiday on Tuesday. Gandhi finally did something for today's generation!
  • Spirit loving people: Damn it! I hate dry-days.

Now the Social media fanatics:
  • Common Twitter users: Happy Birthday #Gandhi! (So that Gandhi trends worldwide and we can "benefit" by gaining some followers and increase our influence)
  • Social Media celebrity #1: Happy Birthday to our most dearest bapu #Gandhiji. Its bcoz of u that we are free. Jai Hind.
  • Social Media celebrity #2: Happy Birthday #Gandhiji. If Gandhiji was alive, I would've stripped for his causes! (Typical case of sadistic celebrities)
  • Social Media celebrity #3: Happy Birthday #Gandhiji. By the way, plz check my latest photos only for my sweetest followers
  • Social Media celebrity #4: Happy Birthday to our most dearest bapu. Today, in his remembrance  I will wear only khaki's designed by my fav @RockyGalaxyS3
  • Social Media celebrity @RockyGalaxyS3: @Celebrity#4 Thats so sweet of you, sweetheart :) By the way, there's a special discount for that attire, only for the day!
  • Social Media celebrity #4:  RT @RockyGalaxyS3 @Celebrity#4 Thats so sweet of you, sweetheart :) By the way, there's a special discount for that attire, only for the day!

If you are familiar with twitter and know how celebrities promote each other for mutual gains, you will understand what I am talking about.

PS: This is purely a sarcastic post on how today's people consider Gandhi Jayanti more as a holiday than remembering the person who made this day possible because of the sacrifices he did to ensure we can "freely" enjoy our bonded life. 

13 comments:

  1. Sad, sarcastic and true. This is exactly what significant days from our rich historic past have been reduced to. Wish we knew the meaning of real celebrations. A very apt article for the day, Binu.

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    Replies
    1. I remember one senior person telling me that people are becoming more selfish with every passing day. I guess he's right. We, as a young community, don't care about the reason for the holiday as long as we get one! Sad.

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  2. sarcastic, you say ? I think the right word is 'realistic'.. this is pretty much whats happening, pal. good one.

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    Replies
    1. You are right doctor. The word should be 'realistic'.

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  3. The responses of various categories are unfortunately very realistic!

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  4. Binu, you brought out what is the current situation on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti well:)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you sir. Hopefully, people will be more responsible.

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  5. hmm.. To tell you frankly, people have become materialistic, including me. I did relaise it is the birthday of the father of our nation, spkoe about him for couple of minutes with the family, and then I went on with my day.

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    Replies
    1. Include me in that list too Jenny. And maybe, that's I wrote this post. I don't expect people to remember him throughout the day (obviously). I was just thinking if we keep our 'jokes' to ourselves during the day and revisit those times one way or the other.

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  6. True that! People are being more selfish than selfless, I guess..

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All yours..

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