Sunday, October 2, 2016

VIPism

One or the other channels on television always show the Richard Attenborough's iconic film Gandhi on 2nd October. Every time I watch the film, I discover a new nuance - sometimes a quote, other times cinematography in the scene of a film or a new story.

There is a scene at the railway station at Champaran village when Gandhi alights from the train. As the British officer watched the huge gathering from the top of a roof and made way towards him to enquire about him and his visit, his subordinate tried to make way for him through the crowd. One could hear statements like "raasta do", "saheb ke liye raasta chodo" in both language versions, and 70 years later, the practice still continues for its rulers - politicians, police officers, or any other person in the chair of any office or city or state or nation that he or she is commanding - Something and many other such practices that is quintessential Indian treatment for VIPs or probably we learnt this from Britishers.

On the birthday of Gandhi as well as of an another true Gandhian Lal Bahadur Shastri, while the TV channels were celebrating Swachh Bharat - another dire need of this country, it is also important to reacquaint all of us with the Gandhian principles - some of which still remain relevant today.