Monday 30 January 2012

Power of greatness

Great people have the magnetic power to drive u towards them. Since my childhood I had  great fascination for Gandhi ji.As I was born in the year 1945, my childhood was full of stories related to struggle for independence,Gandhi ji 's role,brutalities of the British,supreme sacrifice of the martyrs;  pain n suffering of common people during the struggle,the partition n its aftermath.Movies of that time portrayed similar themes n dreams about national reconstruction .we were greatly influenced by movies like Jagriti,AnandMath,Boot polish,,Jagte Raho,Shaheed etc.Songs of these movies'De di hamen azaadi bina khadak bina dhal' ' Vande Matram',Nanhe munne bacche teri muthee mein kaya hai left indelible marks on our tender minds.I ,personally feel children must be exposed to such inspiring characters n real life heroes.I was in class 6th when we were taken to Amritsar on tour by our school;  and the memory of our visit to Jallianwalla bagh with the story of blood bath it experienced at the hands of the British,the bullet marks,the well of death in which hundreds of women jumped to save their honour could never be deleted from my mind.When a simple visit to the place could made our blood boil,we could visualise how it must have impacted n strengthened the freedom movement.Your heads automatically bow in reverence to pay tributes to the martyrs who made supreme sacrifice to get us freedom.

Since my childhood ,I wished to visit Sabarmati Ashram which had been the centre of Gandhi ji's activites n where all the leaders used to meet n all important  decisions with regard to freedom movement used to be taken.My dream came true when my son was posted to Ahmedabad in 2002 and we visited him.Our visit to Sabarmati Ashram remains with me as one of the most cherished moments of my life.It was like a pilgrimage.   We visited each n every room ,read each n every display of events related to his life n his role in freedom struggle.We could feel his presence ,his power in each n every corner of that sacred placeThe most cherished moment of the visit was when I had the honour of sitting at his feet at his lifelike statue in the Ashram to pay my respects n also feel the power of truth-his strength.

If the nation forgets his contribution,his ideology,his philosophy,it does not lessen the power of the great man.It simply shows our inability to face the truth n appreciate its power.All those who tend to belittle his role will be forgotton but his name will always remain on the world scene written in golden letters because Truth does not need patronage from anyone.

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