|
The
other day, Pappu Sinha, a young Patna bus conductor, dropped in on
a man dead for half a century. Here’s Pappu’s recording of
their conversation.
Pappu:
Pleased to meet you, saheb! May I call you Mohan-bhai?
Mohan-bhai:
Certainly Pappu! And what brings you here today?
Pappu:
Mohan-bhai, something’s been bothering me. My schoolbooks
described you as a brave man. But today, lots of my friends call
you a meek coward. They say that non-violence stuff brought India
to its knees. I find it hard to argue, Mohan-bhai. So, why
were you called courageous?
Mohan-bhai:
Well, Pappu, maybe courage isn’t what it used to be! Those were
different days. I did things because I thought they were right,
and would have a certain effect. I didn’t do them because they
would show how brave I was. I did them because I had to do them. I
would have done them even if I had known your friends would call
me cowardly today. Can you see that, my brother?
Pappu:
Yes, but why all this about being meek?
Mohan-bhai:
You see, Pappu, I advocated non-violence as a political tool.
What’s more, against an enemy armed with every possible modern
weapon, non-violence was the most powerful weapon available to me.
I like to think it was more powerful than anything they had,
effective above all.
Possibly
people have forgotten just how powerful, how effective it was. So
they think ahimsa meant just taking the abuse the British
threw at us. Well, that must be cowardice then!
But
I know those men and women who stood up to British lathis
– my friend Lala Lajpat Rai died from them in Lahore – were
the bravest souls in the world. I don’t need to broadcast their
courage: it’s there for all to see. So if today they’re called
meek, who am I to argue? Maybe the time for their kind of courage
is over.
Pappu:
A weapon. I never thought of that. But look, Mohan-bhai,
the British you fought? They committed atrocities. They killed us,
put us in jail for trumped up reasons. They lied and stole,
divided us. All true?
Mohan-bhai:
Right, my brother. Go on.
Pappu:
Well, today too we can be jailed for no reason. Leaders make us
hate and goad us into killing each other. They are corrupt and
steal our money. In your time, it was the British and you drove
them out. Now, they are Indian. But what’s the difference? How
do we fight injustice when it’s Indian? Where can we drive them
out?
Mohan-bhai:
You have a point, Pappu. But what do you want from me, a plan to
get rid of your oppressors?
Pappu:
Oh yes, Mohan-bhai!
Mohan-bhai:
Sorry, I can’t give you that, Pappu! I can only say, you have to
find your political tool. Your weapon. It may not be non-violence
–- I trust it won’t be the nuclear bomb! -– but you have to
find it. Ahimsa worked for us because we chose it as a
deliberate strategy. And we believed in it. You must do the same.
Pappu:
But that’s hardly an answer!
Mohan-bhai:
But it’s all I have, and actually it is an answer. Tell me,
what’s one major concern you have in this country?
Pappu:
Well, there’s this Hindu-Muslim hatred. OK, there was that
trouble at Partition. But it does not affect me today, I know
that, and anyway I was born long after Partition. Yet why do I
feel hatred for Muslims, why do I feel they are hostile towards
me? Why do our leaders keep this hatred going? Wherever I turn,
they do it: Advani, Thackeray, Modi, and that Imam and the mullahs
on their side. What do I do about all this?
Mohan-bhai:
I think you should start by looking at yourself, Pappu. Leaders
can keep hatred going as long as you keep it in your mind. Of
course they fan it. But if you question the hatred, they will
fail. Ask yourself why you hate Muslims, little brother –- I
think you are already doing that. There need not be love between
you and them, but you can learn to live together.
Pappu:
I think I understand, Mohan-bhai. But where’s the
political tool?
Mohan-bhai:
But that’s the political tool! When you ask questions of
yourself, you will automatically ask them of your leaders. When
you try not to hate, you automatically weaken them. That was the
reason for, the lesson from, ahimsa: it undermined the
British.
Pappu:
Hmmm. You’ve got something there, Mohan-bhai. You mean to
say that if I set a standard for myself,
that becomes my weapon?
Mohan-bhai:
Exactly, Pappu!
Pappu:
Good, Mohan-bhai. Well, I’ve got to go. See you when
I’m next in the area. Just what is this nice place called,
anyway?
Mohan-bhai:
Oh, we call it “The Looking Glass.” Go well, my brother.
|
Home
Message
Board 
About
Us 
