Millennium Man

THIS refers to Jai Narain Sharma’s article Millennium man (October 2) we celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary every year on October 2, but this is more of a ritual to create an illusion of deference to his memory while in actual practice we violate and trample under foot all that Gandhiji stood for and preached to us.

For instance, according to one biographer, "to Mahatma Gandhi truth was God and God truth". And truth is the one thing which we, as a nation, seem to hate the most today. Politicians seldom speak the truth; administrators often overlook it; and the people accept at face value what is dished out to them by both as the truth.

So far as Gandhiji’s stress on ahimsa is concerned, we find that our politicians often make use of muscle power. As muscle power is mostly provided by criminal elements and mafia leaders, a close nexus has come to exist between politicians and criminals.

Gandhiji died for preaching communal amity and the brotherhood of man. Both the ideals still look like mirages. The communal divide has been exacerbated by politicians who arouse communal passions and whip up animosities between communities with a view to creating vote banks.

The fact of the matter is that we did not deserve the Mahatma. He was too great for us. We first apotheosed him, then assassinated him and now go through the motions of celebrating his birth anniversaries and mourning his death anniversaries.

We should first become worthy of cherishing the Mahatma’s memory. Today we, the people, need to look into our own hearts as much as the leaders should. Gandhiji believed (long before it was converted into a slogan) that small was beautiful. But he never meant that small minds too were.

K.M. VASHISHT
Mansa

II

Today one shudders to see how we have treated Gandhiji’s legacy of truth and non-violence. We claim not to have completely forgotten the apostle of truth and morality.

We continue to perform the annual ritual of paying our homage to Bapu, though our respect remains restricted to advertisements in magazines and newspapers and floral tributes at the Rajghat.

But do we really care for what Gandhiji said or did? Is even a shadow of his ideals visible in our public, social and personal life? Political leaders, who wear spotless white Gandhian dress, are selfish, violent and immoral.

Today the child, who is brought up in the corrupt socio-political environment, takes Gandhi to be no more than a myth — a fictional character of an epic. We have proved the truth of what Albert Einstein said: "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth".

VED GULIANI
Hisar

III

Gandhiji displayed a commitment to values like truth, fearlessness and detachment. For times to come, his commitment to his fight against discrimination and inequality, will continue to reflect the true sense of his philosophy. The solutions Gandhiji found for the ills of society are relevant even today.

Let us resolve to inspire our children to imbibe Gandhiji’s legacy of non-violence. He forced our places of worship to open their doors to all and accord everyone equal status in society.

ONKAR CHOPRA
Ludhiana

Ghalib’s poetry

Khushwant Singh has hit the nail on the head by saying that Ghalib was too subtle to be translated into another language, and to be enjoyed Ghalib has to be read in Urdu.

In order to bring home his point of view, he has given some examples of translations of Ghalib’s verses in English. Umesh Joshi has given an inappropriate interpretation of this line of Ghalib Goyam mushkil, wagarna goyam mushkil as: What I say is complicated, what I write is complicated. In these lines Ghalib was referring to the inner agony of an artist who fails to give an outlet to what is weighing on his mind. This sort of situation is tantamount to the poet’s intellectual and spiritual death. The sentiment is the same as expressed by the English poet John Milton in a famous sonnet: And that one talent which is death to hide.

Khushwant Singh has also not been able to do justice to Ghalib’s line: Jise gham samajh rehai ho woh agar sharar hota" by rendering it as. They are not sparks of anger but out pouring of sorrow.

When all is said and done, the fact remains that Khushwant Singh has stolen a march over the other translator, T.P. Issar, so far as the remaining three verses of Ghalib are concerned. His translations are closer to the original and read better than those of the gentleman from Karnataka.

A.C. BAHAR
Faridabad

Fighting corruption

This refers to Reeta Sharma’s write-up "should we remain silent spectators" (October 2).

We continue to blatantly practise the art of profiteering even at the cost of endangering the health of our own countrymen. In 1966 some cases of food poisoning were reported from certain areas of London. The health authorities, within 24 hours, traced the source of it to imported beef. This particular consignment was from a shipload from Australia which had yet to be unloaded — only one box had been taken in advance by a grocer in a nearby area. The British authorities contacted the Australian Government, and pat came the instructions — ‘drown the entire consignment’.

Contrary to it sometime in the 70s, India exported cement to Iran which was returned because of its substandard quality. Rather than destroying it, our dealers unashamedly sold it in the home market. India has been ranked as the eighth most corrupt nation in the world.

A few months ago, at a meeting of the National Campaign Against Corruption (NCAC) in New Delhi, its convener Chimanbhai Mehta, said" Parliament had not shown the requisite will to constitute the office of Lok Pal to investigate and punish corrupt high-level government functionaries". He also said that not a single minister had been tried or convicted for corruption since India became independent. "The current laws" he further quipped "favour unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrates".

VIJAY SHEEL JAIN
Ludhiana