Real Swachchatha

Once Gandhiji and his followers were travelling by train. The toilets in the train were very dirty. They could not use them. One of his followers said, “The toilets smell so bad.” Another said, “They are so dirty. There are flies everywhere. How can we use the toilets?”

Then someone said, “Let us call the cleaners.” But there were no cleaners around. Then Gandhiji said, “Why should we wait for the cleaners? Let us clean the toilets ourselves.”

One of the others said, “How can we do so? There is no water. The taps are dry.” Then they found a jug of drinking water to spare.

Gandhiji picked up a newspaper. He said, “Let us go. I will show you how the toilet can be cleaned with the help of a paper and only a jug of water.”

Then he cleaned the dirt himself and gave them a lesson in cleanliness.

Source: www.mkgandhi.org


My Reflection
Gandhiji has come to be associated with the Swachch Bharat Andolan. About cleaning up India, about making India open-defecation free. Everybody knows he cleaned up public toilets and did not wait for cleaners and sweepers. There are stories of Gandhiji making his family comply with this principle. He naturally became the icon and symbol of Swachch Bharat. (Not that other leaders did not care for cleanliness. Just that he spoke up for it vocally and walked his talk).

Swachchta is more than cleaning roads and finding a trash can to dump one's waste. It is an attitude of the mind. It is taking ownership for one's rubbish - indeed all of one's actions and their consequences (which may be the rubbish - quite literally!). It is also an acknowledgement of the truth that our life on earth is a shared space for which each one of us is responsible. 

The Swachchata Andolan does not end with clean roads, clean toilets, and used trash cans. It is not only about ensuring that the government sweepers and cleaners do their duty properly. We all take pride in our railway platforms being cleaner now than every before. While credit for that goes to the cleaning staff and to every user of the platform who has consciously and responsibly disposed off his waste, we still need to reflect on the constant presence of sweeping staff on the platforms. If there is a need to constantly sweep the space, does that not indicate that some people have been irresponsibly littering that space? 

So swachchata is an attitude of the collective mind of the nation's people, and not just an indicator of the efficiency of cleaning staff. When Gandhiji cleaned up a train toilet he was doing more than making it fit for use. He was advocating taking ownership for public spaces; he was speaking up against playing the blame game; he was prioritising action over reaction; and above all,  he was teaching us how to learn the true value of swachchata. The true value of swachchata is not just about cleaning up; it is about understanding and feeling the pain of the cleaner. To feel the pain of the cleaner, one must become the cleaner. If you clean up a public toilet, you are likely never again to be careless in your usage of it. That was Gandhiji's special swachchata message. 

In today's terms the best way to build swachchata in the minds of  every citizen is for every citizen to begin cleaning up at home. If every man, woman and child took turns at home cleaning, swabbing, mopping, dusting, and cleaning up the toilet, Swachchata will become a habit of the mind, a positive attitude for living. It will restore the dignity of physical labour and beat the casteist mind (suppressed inside all of us) to submission and lead not only to cleaner roads and toilets, but acceptance and respect for all citizens, irrespective of their jobs, work, income and caste. 

Vaishnava Jana Toh

Observing Gandhiji's 150th birthday with a rendering of his favourite bhajan by the Chennai Children's Choir, Nalandaway Foundation, Chennai.

Please listen here;

https://youtu.be/rOn6zFZ18Nc

Understanding the underlying meaning of this bhajan leads to better understanding of his ideals. Here is a translation of this Gujrati composition of Narsing Mehta.

Source https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/vaishnava-janato

Vaishnav Janato with Lyrics and Meaning in English

One who is a true devotee of God (Vaishnava)

Feels the pain of others

Helps those who are in misery

But never lets ego or pride enter his mind

Respects the entire world

He does not belittle anyone

He  keeps  his words, actions and thoughts pure

sees all equally, renounces greed and avarice

Views others as extensions of his family

Their tongue might get tired, but he will never speak falsehood

His hands would never touch the property of another

does not succumb to worldly attachments

Detached from worldly pleasures

encompasses the absence of greed and deceit

Renounced all types of lust and anger

The author of this poem (Narsi) would be grateful to meet such a soul

Who, by his virtue, liberates their entire lineage.

The Little Pencil

An anecdote from Gandhiji's life 

One day Gandhiji was searching for something. He looked very worried. A friend asked him, “What are you searching for?"

"I am looking for a small pencil," Bapu answered. His friend opened a shelf and took out a pencil for him. "No, no. I want the small pencil I am searching for," Bapu insisted.

"Use this now, Bapuji, and I shall search for yours later," the friend tried to cajole him.
"No no, you do not understand, Kaka," said Bapu. "I should not lose that pencil. It was given to me in Madras by the young son of G. A. Natesan. He gave it to me with a lot of love. I cannot lose it."

They both searched for the pencil. At last they found it. Now Gandhiji was happy. The pencil was hardly one inch long!

Adapted from www.mkgandhi.org


My reflection:
That's a lot of importance Bapuji gave to a child's gift, which is to say, to the child himself. Today we pay a lot of attention to a child's needs, or a child' s demands, to his or her opinions and wishes. But that's mostly pampering or indulgence. It's different from the kind of importance we see here. Here is importance being given not to one's own child, and not to a gift that is materially significant, and not in the presence of the child. Bapu's respect for the child was expressed in the child's absence to people who did not know anything about the gift. It was not indulgence and it was not showmanship. Respect for children and their emotions when expressed consistently and correctly helps build the children's sense of self, their self worth and sense of identity, and their moral fibre. It is not expressed by giving in to the child's demands, but by listening and paying attention to small gestures and emotional expressions of the child. The best investment is an investment of yourself, the parent, the teacher, and the adult in the child's life. Gandhiji always made time for children. An important reflection for our new gen parents.

Learning from the Mahatma

I am grateful to have been born at a time just after the Mahatma's lifetime. He was still fresh in the memories of grand fathers, great aunts and elderly uncles who had seen the man in flesh and blood and could recall those encounters vividly. His name was always taken with bhakti and reverence. And I imbibed the spirit.

Later my history textbooks and Sir Richard Attenborough's movie added to my knowledge of the Mahatma's life and work. Much later as a young writer of value education textbooks I - guided by my editor and my co-authors - discovered Gandhian principles and philosophy and tried to adopt whatever I could.

In the last two decades I have derived much succour and strength from my readings of Gandhiji. I have taken to my heart whatever of his principles resonated with me and have chosen to respectfully put aside ideas and thoughts that did not fit in with my thinking or some twenty first century perspectives. Gandhiji's life was indeed a series of experiments with himself and his understanding of truth. Gandhiji was transparent in his presentation of these and frank in his contemplation of his own frailties and failures.

With sustainability becoming the mantra of the new outlook for the planet, and with poverty, equity, violation of human rights, and violence doggedly retaining their stranglehold on our country as indeed the world, I find much of the Gandhian way to be relevant even today. Some of his expression may sound dated and archaic today, some of the reasoning difficult to accept, but the inherent insights and principles have the potential to inspire change in oneself, or at least lead to reflection and introspection.

There is no political agenda here. This blog is my grateful offering of Gandhian thought and the Mahatma's life to contemporary readers. Much of it is derived from what I believe to be authentic sources in the public domain and from printed and published matter. I have no way of authenticating these materials, although I have done my best to pick from sources that are authentic. My sincere thanks to all those who made Gandhiji's thoughts and words easily available for seekers.

If some of this resonates with you, dear reader, it will make me happy. If you do not agree or you find it unacceptable, I do hope you will find the beacon for your journey through life elsewhere and it will help you tread gently on the earth. Thank you for stopping by.

Picture courtesy Tara Sudhakar