Is Mahatma Gandhi still relevant?

October 2nd is celebrated in India as Gandhi Jayanti- the day of homage to Mahatma Gandhi, recorded in textbooks as the Father of our nation. It is a day kids eagerly await- not to celebrate the great man but to get a much wanted day off from school. Adults are no different. It is a day when most folks could care less why they are getting a day off- but much appreciate the fact that they are getting it. It is a day when politicians trot out their canned set of quotes and statements on the greatness of the Mahatma whilst having nary a clue of why the man is celebrated so much, atleast on paper. For the displaced Indian, it is yet another day, the significance of which is most times forgotten. And for the coming generation, Gandhi is just a name and answer to a history question, "Who is the Father of the nation?". Everything else is relegated to the days before exam when details are crammed, vomited on the exam paper and promptly forgotten. How did we get here and a question to point, is Gandhi still worth remembering? India has a tortured history. The pre-Independence era is filled with as many tales of greed and deceit as it is with its indomitable spirit and heroism. Patriotic fervor of our freedom fighters and more importantly of the faceless Indian of that day is but a footnote in India's present. We love to talk up our freedom struggle and pepper our conversations with "Dandi March" and "Quit India Movement" while little understanding what it really meant then, much less today. And no single person symbolises India's continuing love-hate relationship with its past than Mahatma Gandhi. Pseudo secularists and sophisticated elite love to talk about how Gandhi was really nothing more than a character in events much bigger than him. About how Britain was all set to give India its independence after WWII, with or without Gandhi in the equation. Of how Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh are the real symbols, the real heroes of India's struggle. And finally and most importantly, how Gandhi and Nehru did the biggest crime of the day by allowing Jinnah to walk away with Pakistan and a lot of money.  Yes, it is cool to be the one that bucks conventional wisdom. It is cool to be the one with the contrarian opinion, the one that questions almost universally upheld beliefs. But when was cool confused with being right? Gandhi, to me, is as important today than he was then, if not much more. To the world and much much more to India. And here is why. Gandhi represents everything that is right in a person and one that is severely lacking today. From the world's standpoint, religion is the biggest problem plaguing us. Religion can be used to explain much if not all our woes (yes, its all about the money too). Our tolerance or lack of it is why we continue to fight and kill each other. And there is no signs of this bloodsport abating. In that context, we should go back to how Gandhi gave away a part of the very nation he struggled and gave everything to get independence and then build. The partition was and is the bloodiest era in Indian history. It made friends into enemies overnight. And to see the very nation(s) whose freedom you fought for over your lifetime, fight and kill must have been horrific. But it had to be done. For the good of India and of Pakistan. And the hallmark of it happening was Gandhi letting Jinnah have what he wanted. Reasonable or not, it was the only sensible thing to do at that time and Gandhi was the only one who could convince the people of the nation that it had to be done. During the era of Gandhi, there were calls from radical elements of the freedom struggle to take a more violent and agressive approach to getting the British to leave India. A more violent approach would not only have caused more bloodshed, it would not have guaranteed freedom. From present day India's standpoint, Gandhi represents everything right about what is wrong with India today. Honesty, sincerity and character are on the verge of being removed from dictionaries of Indian politics. Indian politics is such a dirty morass that it is almost impossible to clean it up. But if ever someone to look up as a role model, Gandhi would be it. Gandhi was the epitome of sacrifice to public service, of putting country above self. Something that is sorely lacking in Indian politics today. Instead we talk about the hundreds of thousands of crores each one loots from everything from selling homes allocated to war veterans to coal and telecommunication. The value of a politician is measured not by what he has contributed to the country but how much the country has been forced to contribute to him. Finally and most importantly, from an individual standpoint, Gandhi represents something very simple and pure. Of personal will and single minded dedication to a task overcoming herculean odds. Of Davids besting Goliaths without even a sling. Of the power of the word and of the human nature to fight for what is right. Of standing alone, hurt and in pain, but not ceding to anything but the greater good. Of believing that one man can change the world. Of being singularly committed to a goal for the greater good of millions of people. How many people we know of today can stand up to that high level of dedication and purpose?. Wouldnt humanity benefit as a whole if another Mahatma were to walk on Earth today?. And that precisely is why Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is incredibly relevent today and why it matters that we learn more about him. If not for anything else, he represents hope - that we still have a chance and all it takes is one man, of the kind the Mahatma was.