Once a year, as a nation we collectively lose the plot. Between #twittergandhi on the lower end of the intellectual spectrum and jingoistic news-channel debates about what it means to be Gandhian on the (not by much) higher end, we gift the father of our nation his mangled legacy every October 2nd.

Don’t brace yourself for an article on how we’ve forgotten his core principles. This is about what these were in the first place. I’m tempted to say that he taught us non-violence and the need for Swaraj. I won’t kid myself though. That’s not me but my NCERT-approved CBSE history “education” speaking. Swaraj and non-violence are politically-loaded terms. They’re applicable only if you want to bring about a social revolution or join Arvind Kejriwal’s political party – not if you’re a regular Joe who completes an MBA after his engineering and then plods on to a cushy job as a consultant/investment banker. Most of us live politically dormant lives, are by and large non-violent (honestly, when was the last time you slapped that co-worker who really did deserve it?) and enjoy a degree of freedom high enough to take for granted.

That said, can we then live the Mahatma’s message in our humdrum lives? That depends on what we think his message is. It’s not Munnabhai-style Gandhigiri but something much simpler – resilience, self-belief and empathy. The problem is that instead of putting the Mahatma’s teachings on a pedestal, we’ve artificially put them on a shelf too high for anyone to reach. For instance, here’s a look at some of the quotes from the ads our government departments chose to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti with:

• “India can’t prosper if rural India lags behind, and I think rural electrification is the first step towards this.”  (Indian Express, Mumbai Edition, Ministry of Power)

• “The shape of the world would indeed be transformed if all of us lived in a spirit of love and amity with one another.” (Indian Express, Mumbai Edition, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)

• “Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.” (Hindustan Times, Delhi Edition, Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh)

• “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” (Hindustan Times, Delhi Edition, Ministry of Minority Affairs)

Too much, right? Don’t get me wrong. His oratory skills were a significant part of his charm. But step back for a minute and you realise that Bapu’s message is not in his quotes but in his actions. Being a Gandhian is sometimes as simple as seeing a task through, despite the hurdles you may face; after all, the Mahatma showed us that with a little determination, the Dandi beach is walking distance from Sabarmati. Living the spirit of love and amity with one another isn’t much more difficult than giving your maid that raise which won’t pinch you so much but will make all the difference in the world to her. And you’re a little more like the great man when you don’t let someone else tell you what you are or aren’t capable of. Remember, it was the Mahatma, not the South African ticket collector who had the last laugh.

It was difficult to agree with Rajiv Vora, a Gandhian scholar, when he implied that the decadence in our society is a result of Western values over the Gandhian ones that we have chosen (Is The Mahatma Relevant In Indian Politics? India Decides, NDTV, October 2, 2012). Living by a Gandhian philosophy is very different from living by his opinions, which were understandable for the state of affairs in 1947. In this day and age though, with his views on rural self-reliance, he would have been called anti-growth and protectionist. For example, he thought that machinery was bad and that (the) “railways accentuate(d) the evil nature of man”. At a time when watchers of the Indian economy are pushing the government towards liberal reforms, Gandhiji’s economic philosophy sounds both obsolete and quaint. But to cut and paste his views onto our lives today would be to miss the essence of his teachings. It’s not easy to pillory Westernisation when the alternative is not being able to bite into a succulent McAloo Tikki whenever you want.

The Mahatma should be our Dumbledore and Gandalf rolled into one – wise, comforting and inspiring – someone whose lessons and vision stay with us even when he’s physically not there. Instead, we’ve turned him into a mythic Atlas who carries a burden too great for a mere mortal to share. To make Gandhism work in the 21st Century, we need to think of it as a way of life rather than a university handbook enumerating the dos and don’ts of college behavior. That’s the true challenge of keeping his legacy alive and kicking.

Image Source – [http://www.flickr.com/photos/roland/6421035713/]