Who is Gandhi

This year marks the centenary of the First World War. Apart from being a historical event which shaped the world's destiny, the Great War didn't carry much of a significance for me. In fact, the chessboard of World War II seemed more interesting. It is probably the reflection of the same mindset which finds the narrative of Mahabharat much more interesting and politically enlivened as compared to the Ramayan.

It was only after my daughter Seemontini pointed out that she had a link to the Great War that I took a little more interest. They were doing a project in school and found out that although the war broke out on 28 July 1914, it was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on June 28, which happens to be Seemontini's birthday. Although separated by 90 years (Seemontini was born in 2004), I was quite amused by the link she worked out with the Great War.
However, the more interesting revelation came on November 10, ahead of the Armistice Day, when I came across a lecture of eminent Gandhian scholar Dr Uday Singh Mehta. He was delivering a talk titled "Putting Courage at the Centre: Gandhi on Civility and Society", organised by the Tagore Centre for Global Thought at the King's India Institute.

I got stuck in the train and was forced to miss the first part of the talk. However, what I came across was no less startling. Dr Mehta pointed out that Gandhi was a recruiter for the British Army ahead of World War I. Gandhi thought that it was his moral duty to defend the British Empire at the time of war, and using the opportunity to arm twist Britain in India's quest for self-rule or independence would be highly immoral.

What I found fascinating in Dr Mehta's reading of Gandhi is the predominance of morality and ethics in his thinking. Not that it was anything new, but the multiple shades of analysis that intertwined Gandhi as a thinker, according to Dr Mehta was quite revealing. He even went to the extent of arguing that Gandhi was happy with Dominion Status as long as it fulfilled his moral and ethical parameters.

Dr Mehta argued that at some stage Gandhi probably resigned to himself and reluctantly felt that there was no other way than being a nationalist. My reading of Indian history during the movement for independence is quite limited, even then, I can somehow reason the restlessness of Netaji in joining hands with the enemy of the British to facilitate India's independence, which many, including Gandhi, found to be immoral.

It seemed that probably Gandhi was too obsessed with morality and ethics. He situating morality and ethics at the heart of his arguments probably makes Gandhi more endearing to the wider world than the popular notion of non-violence and Satyagraha. Endearing Gandhi in a way gives credence to ones apparent commitment to morality without any obligation of practicing it or treading the ethical path in everyday life. It's almost analogous to flaunting a prestigious publication in ones study rather than having any penchant for going through it with the desire to understand.

It is widely known that Gandhi was deeply influenced by Bhagavad Gita, but drawing from the conversation between Krishna and Arjun, Gandhi probably accepted that violence was no aberration but a fact of life. What transpired from the talk by Dr Mehta was that Gandhi's lifelong endeavour had been to find out an ethical argument to morally justify violence.

The many facets of character that is encapsulated in Gandhi as a person, a social thinker and above all the political leader, seem fascinating to me. The more I read, hear and think about him the more I get a feel of his complexities.

What I also find intriguing is the chemistry that worked between Gandhi and Nehru. I can sense a fair amount of oriental values in Gandhi's version of morality and ethics, which to my understanding is different from what is portrayed by western modernity. What I find difficult to understand is how Nehru, very much a poster boy of western modernity in an Indian set up, could get along with such rationalisation of the political with moral ends.

I look forward to Dr Mehta's forthcoming book, "A Different Vision: Gandhi’s Critique of Political Rationality".

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 

All comments are personal.

What's in a name!

"I Pity the Fool" is an American reality
television series on TV Land  
starring Mr T 

"What's in a name," they might say, but when I joined the BBC in 1999, my Regional Head Elizabeth Wright confided that the reason why she decided to officially see me later than expected was because of my name. She needed some time and probably a bit of practice to decently pronounce my name.
Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, a 23-letter name is not only mouthful but also quite a difficult one to pronounce even by the Indian standard. No wonder, the elderly White British people in my neighbourhood chose to rename me "Tito". Everytime they apologetically address me by that name, I assuage myself by babbling the Shakespearean phrase from Romeo and Juliet.
My colleagues at West Thames College are even smarter. They have reduced me to "Mr T", of course with my consent. Little did I know that the name was linked to an American television character and our looks and nature were miles apart.

About a decade ago, subaltern historian from Chicago Dipesh Chakarabarty wrote in the Anandabazar Patrika how strangely his surname was pronounced by a cabbie to give it a different connotation.

However, transformation of names to facilitate easy pronunciation is not uncommon. Sunil becomes Sam, Banerjee - Beny or Banjo and Sukhbinder - Suki or Sukh. But all these are in the West and Indians, especially Bengalis take pride in the fact that their tongues are flexible enough to pronounce difficult names easily.

Sea Bass becomes Basa Fish in India

Tonight during our dinner, my wife Sonali narrated a story of how the name of a fish has undergone metamorphosis - thanks to the upward mobile Indian middle class - which is hilarious to say the least. The laughter that followed lightened the sombre mood at the dinning table ahead of a dull Monday morning.
Sonali gathered from her Facebook friends that Sea Bass, a sweet, white, textured fish, caught in the North Atlantic, from Norway to Senegal, is known as 'Basa' in many parts of India and is gradually becoming a prestigious delicacy among the ever expanding middle class. To add a vanity touch, the word 'fish' follows 'Bassa' rather than its usual vernacular versions.

Our local fish monger sells Sea Bream alongside Sea Bass and he hails from Afghanistan. "What's left of globalisation," I said to myself ! Globalisation may be a great leveller but names still matter.

** The comedy of errors with names continues. My friend Suddhasattwa Bandyopadhyay pointed out on Facebook that what is known as Basa Fish in India is actually "Pangasius Bocourti" and not Sea Bass.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 

All comments are personal.

Melancholic happiness

The grey morning in London is followed by a drizzle and then a heavy shower. It always feels cosy to sit in the comfort of home and watch the downpour outside. It renders a sense of melancholy but the pensive feeling is filled with the joy of satisfaction.

The weeklong half-term break is almost over and life is going to be hectic as usual from Monday. Sitting in the confines of Starbucks on Hounslow High Street, the dull and grey outside comes with a refreshing feeling.

The drizzle and the nagging spells of shower are very much part of the London I like and love. Laziness creeps in, one is distracted from the long list of things to be completed before a working week sets in, and yet the downpour and the accompanying dreariness is comparable to the freshness of having a deep breath in the lush green English countryside.


The waiter at Starbucks has already reminded me that I have sat for too long in lieu of the regular cappuccino that my good friend Rajat Dey bought me this morning. The anxiety is palpable as quite a few people are waiting in the aisle to relish their drinks in a bid to save themselves from the autumn downpour.

The gloom is not necessarily joyless and the sun peeping out will only act as a dampener to the melancholic happiness.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 

All comments are personal.

Reading Nehru may help Mr Vadra

November marks an important month when it comes to Indian politics. For a country which easily falls for hero-worship and paying obesiance is synonymous to public outpouring of respect for the national leaders on their birth and death anniversaries rather than delving on their legacy, November assumes significance as two of India's prime ministers were born in this month.

India's first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was born on the 14th day of November and this year marks his 125th birth anniversary. His daughter Indira Gandhi was born on November 19 and this year completes three decades since she was brutally assassinated by her bodyguards. Both father and daughter have made significant contributions as prime minister in shaping India's polity and left a rich legacy.

Nehru was known for his rich vision of nation-building and although one might disagree with him but no one could question his intellectual and political acumen. He has influenced many in shaping their intellectual thoughts.

Recently, I came across an article by Dipesh Chakrabarty, a well known historiographer on South Asia whose works range from the modern to Subaltern Studies. In the article titled "In the Name of Politics: Sovereignty, Democracy, and the Multitude in India" (Economic and Political Weekly; Jul 23 2005), the author makes a comparison between 'colonial sovereignty' and its post-colonial version. Although set in a different context, Chakrabarty makes extensive use of Nehru's speeches in the initial years of independent India.

Talking to a group of agitating students in Patna in August 1955, Nehru said, "demonstrations and hooliganism"  were not appropriate forms of protest in an independent country. A few days earlier in Guwahati he observed, "No strong nation indulges in throwing stones and behaving like hooligans. Any fool can do that."  (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru; Vol 29, p:57).

Nehru's observation can be debated, but it came to my mind when an Indian television channel beamed an agitated Robert Vadra, the husband of Priyanka Vadra (nee Gandhi) - Panditji's great grand daughter, pushing the mic of a video journalist after being asked about his allegedly questionable land deals in Haryana.

One may find it a bit out of place to establish a link between a visually brazen Vadra with Nehru's observation on the nature of protests in independent India, but the comparison becomes easier when one is mindful of the fact that the much talked about great grandson-in-law of India's first prime minister behaved like a tearaway.

Politics in a democracy, according to Nehru, must be based on 'discussions, debates an discipline' and he believed in it with similar conviction even in the civil sphere. Vadra has clearly violated the norm as defined by his great grandfather-in-law by pushing the mic of the newsperson and virtually intimidating him by asking several times if he was "serious". Vadra had every right in not responding to the query of the journalist but to act in a seemingly violent way goes beyond the realm of civility.

Nehru believed in the power of education as he thought it was the way to enlightenment. Vadra is probably unaware of the civilities necessary to be in public life and needs a dose of enlightenment in the form of education. The cavaliar in him would do well to read Nehru before he exposes himself to another incident of recklessness.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant.
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com
All comments are personal.