Gandhi's Memorabilia

The recent case where Gandhi's memorabilia was auctioned in New York and the hype it created got me thinking and hence this blog.

A couple of weeks ago, some Gandhi’s memorabilia surfaced in a New York auction house. It was supposed to be auctioned; this created a lot of hype and hoopla with the government trying to stop the auction through diplomatic channels. When it became known that the auction could not be stopped through diplomatic means, the government asked Indians to bid for the articles. The auction went on, and ultimately the items were bought for 1.8 million dollars. The items in auction were: (1) a pair of glasses, (2) sandals and (3) a small bowl. It was told that the Indians had formed a group and were bidding together, but suddenly, another anonymous bidder joined the bidding. This lead to an increase in the price of the articles as strong bidding ensued. Finally, the Indian group guessing that the other anonymous bidder must be an Indian, stopped bidding for the articles. And indeed, this bidder turned out to be Vijay Mallaya, the liquor baron. And he donated the articles back to India. As the articles were bought by an Indian, there was a sense of relief coupled with joy all over India that the articles were brought back to its rightful owner. Many people were actually happy that Indians had bid for it and brought back the items.

It is at such times, people think of Gandhi as a national figure. Other than that, during daily lives, people have completely forgotten Gandhi. A couple of years ago there was a movie "Lago Raho Munnabhai", in that when asked who was Gandhi? The reply came promptly back saying he is the person in the 100 rupee note. And on another instance, it was said that we remember him because it is a dry day. Gandhi should not be remembered as a national figure just for name sake. We are just proud of him because he was born in India and because of him only did we get independence. For the newer generation, he is just somebody to be remembered as he got us the freedom.

India already possess many of his memorabilia. More than his memorabilia, his thoughts and values are more important, if everybody can follow his footsteps and his path, he shall be very happy.