Having watched Gandhi, I have gained a better insight to the history of India’s independence as well as I got to know more about Gandhi. For instance, I never knew he was a qualified lawyer. I only knew him as the man in the white loincloth. To me, his principles in life are reflected in the wearing of a loincloth; abstinence from wealth and carnal pleasures, and surviving on minimal resources. However, it could also be him trying to experience the Indian culture, as mentioned in the movie. I also had no idea of the racism he experienced in South Africa.
One element that I felt the movie could have included was why Gandhi was assassinated. I was initially puzzled as to why would anyone kill Gandhi beside the obvious fact that India and Pakistan were rivals. Upon further research, I found out that it was because the assassin, Nathuram Godse felt that Gandhi was responsible for weakening India by insisting a payment to Pakistan.
I came across this website, M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence : http://www.gandhiinstitute.org/
This institute exposes participants to the life and teachings of Gandhi through experiential activities and group based learning. What interest me was that this institute still continues to preach nonviolence even after 64 years India gained its independence. This shows that Gandhi was truly an inspirational person whose principles can help guide people even till this day.
You may also think that Gandhi no longer appears in the newspapers, but you are wrong! Recently, in fact, couple of minutes ago, in The Economic Times, a news article was published regarding the auction of Gandhi’s glasses, charkha, and also a pinch of soil and blades of grass from the place he was killed.
For a full report of the news, go here:
Do also check out this website for some interesting facts about Gandhi:
http://mapsalesdotcom.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/10-little-known-facts-about-mahatma-gandhi/
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