My politics starts with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. I was eight , my mind was full of story books, comics and the Amar Chitra Kathas of Hindu Mythology. I can still remember those days of transition, I was growing very fast but not as just a girl child but as an intellectually strong girl child. So, I met ‘Bapu’ first in the movie screen, in a clumsy dusty gloomy cinema hall, not like present days INOX kind of a hall, that was literally unimaginable that time ; Bapu, first half wearing coat and trousers and the second half with Dhoti and Chadar had a charishmatic presence over evryone inside and outside the screen. A scene from the movie knocked at the window of my heart where Mr MK Gandhi was trying to send his Chadar to a poor lady through the wave of Yamuna River ,and the lady sitting embarrassed beside the water, a sense of responsibility, a sense of respect, a sense of sympathy of the charecter who played the role of Gandhi attracted my senses which found a strong support from my inner self. I was just eight till I entered the movie hall. I tried to find him out on my history books when I was a pre teen even then I started thinking like those freedom fighters of 1942. I often tried to draw his picture on my mind from the various things I know about him but misearably failed because actually I knew nothing about him, except a few facts and figures of the history of nationalist movements of my country. Only after a long gap, when I passed University Examinations, I visited Shntiniketan, a place where Gandhi became ‘Mahatma’, I restarted my expeditions on Mahatma’s Life through his writings, workes and quotations. The visit of Shantiniketan had a deep impact on my mind, I gone through publicised letters, writings of Tagore on Mahatma Gandhi , some valuable photos of Gandhi with Tagore , I could confirm their inter personal relationships, their feeling of brotherhood, sympathy toward fellow indians who were fighting battle against the British Rulers. It was understandable how both of them were emotionally attached with each other inspite of having different directions in life.
Continued…
Urbasi Gayatri Bhattacharyya 