Of course I couldn’t resist the celebration of Bapu’s birthday! Here’s a special episode to remind us how this great man struggled and fought with his simplistic approach to bring the independence back to India.
As we’re kids, I’ve tried my best to discuss more about his own childhood. If some of you have never heard his voice, this might be a good opportunity. Thanks to a couple of Youtube video channels. Indiavideodotorg and British Pathé for these audio clips. What else could be best way to end the episode but to listen to his favourite song? Vaishnav janatho.
Dyuthi’s tribute to Gandhiji
Pragna’s writing about the Mahatma
Transcripts
EPISODE-028MAHATMA GANDHI SPECIAL EPISODE
[0.01]{Background Music}
[0.08]Siyona: Hello everyone, Welcome to my podcast, Little Mind Chats. Minds are little, not our thoughts. I’m your host Siyona. Today is October 2nd. The birthday of a man. Simple, lean, Dressed in a dhoti, with a Stick in his hand and circular glasses on his face. A smile and his peaceful look could easily fool you to take him as an ordinary man.
[0.35] But Nope! He’s not to be taken easily. There’s probably no library on earth that doesn’t have at least one book about him. His face is on every bank note in India, around 15 universities, scores of colleges, foundations, schools and structures are named after him. Not just here in India, but across the world!
[0.59] Oh Yes, you’ve got it right. His name is Mahatma Gandhi!
[1.04] But why is Gandhi this popular? There were many other freedom fighters who fought for India’s freedom. It’s probably because of Gandhi’s unique approach to attaining freedom for this great country, which was non-violence. It was very crucial for India to get the freedom. Listening to the clip of what the Britishers thought of India just after freedom will make you understand why….
[1.32]{Clip is played}
[3.17] This clip was made in 1947 on 15th of August. Please do watch it on YouTube by searching ‘India Takes Over (1947)’. It has clippings of HOW poor India was.
[3.35] So, this was exactly why Mahatma Gandhi along with other freedom fighters were struggling to get us our much-deserved freedom! I feel so thankful they did pull us out of all the Social and economic mess created by Britishers and get us this freedom.
[3.55] But it got me thinking, how did Gandhi really get the power to do what he did? What made him a strong man? How did he achieve so many things?
[4.05]Well, to understand that, listen to Gandhi’s words in his own voice.{Clip is played}
[4.51]Truthanddiscipline.
[4.53] They are 2 very powerful words and even more powerful if we practiced it as children.
[5.02] Here are some stories from Gandhi’s life that actually followed these 2 principles
[5.09] As we all know, Gandhiji was born in Porbandar 1869 on the western coast of India… His parents were Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai.
[5.22] When Gandhiji was a school boy, he was scared of bullying too. He’d go straight to home after school, just to avoid the other boys from bullying him. And guess what? Gandhiji had school reports too. One of the terminal reports rated him as “good at English, fair in Arithmetic and weak in Geography; conduct very good but bad handwriting. I heard he regretted his bad handwriting though!
[5.55] There’s something else I could relate to as a child. Gandhiji was actually scared of Ghosts and darkness when he was a boy, just like some of us. So, one day, while he was scared to move from one room to another, his Ayah, Rambha asked him to think of Rama to fight the fear. This became a lifelong habit for Gandhiji. This is probably why” Hey Ram” was the last word of Gandhiji when he died in 1948.
[6.31] I liked this one incident during his childhood days which showed how truthful he was even as a school boy! One day, the Inspector of Schools, Mr. Giles, came to Gandhiji’s school. He read out five English words to the class and asked the boys to write them down. Gandhiji wrote four words correctly, but he could not spell the fifth word ‘Kettle’. Seeing his hesitation, the teacher made a sign behind the Inspector’s back that Gandhiji should copy the word from his neighbour’s slate. But he ignored his teacher’s signs. The other boys wrote all the five words correctly. After the Inspector left, the teacher was cross with him. “I told you to copy from your neighbour,” he said angrily. “Couldn’t you even do that correctly?” Everyone laughed.
[7.33] As he went home that evening, Gandhiji was very unhappy. He knew that he had done the right thing. What made him sad was that his teacher asked him to cheat. That proves that he was always on the path of truth even when he was a young boy.
[7.55] Mahatma Gandhi was also great at time Management. He valued every moment of his time. One day, he was travelling in a small train uphill to Darjeeling along with his Script writer. It was a narrow-gauge train. while the train was moving up the hill, somewhere, the engine got disconnected from the coaches. So, the engine went ahead and the coaches started sliding backwards. There was huge panic, as people were between life and death. Mahatma Gandhi was dictating letters, and he said; ‘Bangalori, take dictation.’
[8.41] The Script writer said, ‘Bapu (father, referring to Mahatma Gandhi), do you know what is happening? We may not be alive. We are in-between life and death. The coaches are moving backward with nothing to stop it, and its gaining speed.’
[8.55] So, Mahatma Gandhi replied. ‘Suppose we get saved; we would have wasted all this time. If we die, we die. But if we are saved, we wasted so much time? So, come on, take dictation.’
[9.12] That reminds me how much time I waste each day. Every moment we spend on our gadgets unnecessarily is probably something we could have used for something better.
[9.26] Just in case you’re thinking his life was just about following these principles, you’re probably wrong. He used these very principles and created HUGE movements across India. Which probably later played a huge role in getting India her Independence.
[9.46]On the night of June 7, 1893, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a young lawyer then, was thrown off the train’s first class “whites-only” compartment at Pietermaritzburg station in South Africa for refusing to give up his seat. A white man had objected to Gandhi travelling in the first-class coach in spite of Gandhiji possessing a valid ticket. When Gandhi refused to move to the rear end of the train, he was thrown out. He had stayed at the station that night shivering in cold and the bitter incident had played a major role in Gandhi’s decision to stay on in South Africa and fight the racial discrimination being faced by Indians there.
[10.43] Here are some of the movements that Gandhi created during India’s struggle for Independence.
[10.50]Champaran Movement (1917): This movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the injustice meted out to tenant farmers in Champaran district of Bihar. They could not grow the food they needed, nor did they receive enough money for the indigo that they were forced to grow. Its marked as the first India’s Civil Disobedience movement.
[11.19]Dandi March (1930) Also Known Salt Satyagraha, it is one of the vital events in the history of India. Gandhi urged people to break salt law and marched for 24 days that is from 12 March to 6 April 1930. This event also remains important because a lot of women in India became a part of it thereby Mahatma Gandhi was successful in uplifting the position of women in the society.
[11.56]Quit India Movement (1942) The 1942 Quit India Movement was led by Mahatma Gandhi with prominent leaders of the All- India Congress Committee. As the name suggests, the protest initiated the British to quit India. Mahatma Gandhi raised the slogan of DO or Die in this very movement. After a few hours of movement launch, all the leaders along with Mahatma Gandhi were arrested and imprisoned and this led to a violence like situation in the country.
[12.36] There are so many other Movements Gandhiji started. But one of his quotes say-
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
[12.46] I wish to see this world filled with more children and future adults who are better informed and more responsible to shape a better future for our world. Here I am, being that change using my podcast.
[13.01] So, there’s so much we could learn from this great man who lived and probably walked the very places we still do. Remember, great leaders are born by following very simple principles right from Childhood. We are in ours right now. Let’s strive and follow some of Gandhi’s principles. It might take us to great places we could possibly not imagine right now.
[13.30] Well, that brings us to a little message that Anika wanted to share with us from UK, Stevenage. I’ve known her from a really young age
{Voice message played}
[14.08] Thanks for your voice message Anika.
[14.12]{Voice message played}
[14.40]Siyona: That was super cute. Thanks for your voice message. Some of my friends came in to share their love for Gandhi.
[14.50]{Voice message played}
[14.58] Thanks for lifting up the mood for all of us.
[15.03] Have you enjoyed today’s episode? I’m really hoping this episode helps all of us understand how Gandhiji shaped himself to become a better person and a leader. It just proves that we could follow his path too with just a little bit of determination.
[15.20] Please do share it with your friends and family. You can hear it from my website www.littlemind chats.com.
[15.32] For a change, we’ll be ending this episode with Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite Song. Like Anika said, its Vaishnava Jana tho.
