Competition's results declared. See the post on "ancestors"
01st October is China's 60th Founding Day celebrations. 02nd October is Mahatma Gandhi's anniversary. I put here my feelings, based on what I have studied, about these two great nations who command between themselves more than 35% of humanity! Gandhi speaks first, then Mao Tsetung (the founder of Chinese Communist Party and creator of PRC).
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Gandhi meets Mao
01st October is China's 60th Founding Day celebrations. 02nd October is Mahatma Gandhi's anniversary. I put here my feelings, based on what I have studied, about these two great nations who command between themselves more than 35% of humanity! Gandhi speaks first, then Mao Tsetung (the founder of Chinese Communist Party and creator of PRC).
~
Gandhi meets Mao
It was way up in the sky, in the heavens to be precise
That the two great men of Asia met each other
Gandhi and Mao, liberators of nations worldly-wise
To take stock of situation, it was time, high time.
I chose non-violence, said Gandhi, and liberated my 300 million
Leveraging centuries of philosophical wisdom, we stood free from shackles.
So what? gushed Mao, I chose the power at the right end of a gun's barrel
Bang, bang, bang.. here's PRC delivered, and there runs Chiang Kai Shek rattled!
India is free, truly free, my people can speak their hearts out
Fear they may none, neither secret police nor the military's rifles.
That's your folly Gandhi! You give them rope they hang themselves with
We know a thinking populace is unproductive, foolish wasting time over trifles.
My successors have done a good job, they have nurtured democracy
Institutions and elections.. we are the best, second to none.Of what use? To what end? A poor man with choices is still poor
Look at Deng's reforms - mighty, prosperous and resplendent we have become!
We are flexible, elastic, plastic, we change, we move
The harshest of criticisms we take in our stride and emerge stronger.
It's your mistake Gandhi, you fail to see
We are a monolith - quicker, faster, surer, steadier.
But a monolith is a monolith, strong maybe, but brittle
Of what use is freedom when celebrations arouse fear and suspicion!
Haah! It's not that, my dear, it's just precaution, remember the rogues
The rogues you shelter, we see you do, without compunction.
The Dalai Lama is not a rogue, he is a wise guru of millions
His love can set you free, the pain of decades, oh, sweltering over.
To hell with love, we need hard cash, resources and machines
Global trade knows no love, and we are the prime mover.
What has all this brought us? Global Warming? Hatred? Credit crunch?
Wisdom demands we see it straight, and speak it straight.
What straight? This is as straight as straight can get
We make a 500 kms highway straight, obstacles no bar, homes be razed.
Ahh.. now there you are! People's rights - do they mean nothing?
Uprooting anyone, anywhere, anytime without warning?
Are men above nations, Gandhi? Are they?
And to this lovely freedom of speech you profess, what do your Naxals have to say?
Naxals? They are our own, our brothers and sisters
Historically wronged indeed, they will be part of mainstream for sure.
While you dither Gandhi, we crush, smoothen it out, and move on
Uigurs, Tibetans, you name it, we have permanent peace, 100% pure!
Democracy, the internet, the knowledge highway - it's all there
How long can anyone dam the forces that unleash democracy's waves?
Waves? We'd rather turn them into a theme park, the world's largest (of course)
For history is written by the man the streets of history who paves.
I put man's dignity above everything, he is God's finest creation
His happiness, choice, free-will are civilisations' substrate.
We share the same views Gandhi!
But for man, I substitute the State.
You think our men and women produce little? They are not fecund?
Software and Services you seem to forget, Mao my dear.
Just two, Gandhi? I could name fifty such sectors
The mere mention of "China" where will bring tremble & fear.
Churchill said India will break into pieces upon independence
We proved him wrong, our historical glue too strong.
While you contend with what you had and still treasure
I capture new territories, left, right and centre!
Our debate it seems will go on for ever
Our roads may never meet, I fear.
Really? What if we both relent, a little
From positions we hold so dear.
Together we are 35% of humanity, imagine what we can achieve
If we set aside our differences, hold-hands and synergise
Maybe Hindi-Chini surely can be Bhai-Bhai
The world will shake, when our positive power will arise, awaken and shine!
~
22 comments:
Respected Sir,
It was surely a differnt sort of learning Injection this time.
While Reading the whole conversation Between Gandhiji and Mao the feel of politeness in Gandhiji's tone gave a sudden rise to Patriotism in my Blood.
If Reading about him can do this we cant Measure the level of Patriotism masses would have while walking with him in Various Freedom Fighting movements.
Really he deserves to be on every Currency note of India.
Again my Imagination flew from MUMBAI TO SHANGHAI without VISA when you said about HINDI CHINI bhai bhai,,,,Really if these two nations are together any day Humanity in this nations will Outperform in every aspect of LIFE.
But looking at the current Scenario its all Fiction.
At last Salute to Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings.He proved Actions are always stronger then Words and sometimes Silence can also do miracles.
Thanks
Proton Akshay
FALL09
Sir ...
Competition Results ?
Eagerly waiting...
For the "Ancestors" blogpost, competition results to be declared by tonight!
Good Morning Sir,
I feel so lucky to have a Mentor, who happens to be a brilliant Educationist, masterful orator, inspirational entrepreneur, serious thinker ....... and also a poet!!! So much Brilliance. So Inspiring :-)
"Churchill said India will break into pieces upon independence
We proved him wrong, our historical glue too strong.
While you contend with what you had and still treasure
I capture new territories, left, right and centre!"
RIGHT THERE, Mao won the debate with a clean sweep!!!.
Sir, that’s Toooo Goood & So True !!!
P.S.:- I'm always short on words after reading your blogposts !!
Have a Nice Day Ahead
Pr. Akash Ahluwalia
Fall – 09 intake, Indore
Respected sir,
Great imagination. Very artistic writing. U has clearly pointed out the differences between two thinkings and the result is also put by u in front of us. I do not wish to criticize Gandhiji but i do not agree with many of his thoughts. Non violence?? What good use it will be(we may claim that this help us to acheive independence), but we would have, i m sure, acheived it with an open war also. On part of mao we see aggression brought to him by power, wealth and greatness, everything we put up with china it should be great- great people, great achievements, great losses, great murders, great constructions etc etc. recently mr.kalam pointed out that india has not attacked any neighboring country for centuries!! he openly showed his disappointment to this. It is foolish to go in front of a brainwashed armed terrorist and teach him non violence! that will be the last thing u will do(unless u prepare to fight or run away). mao gave importance to state whereas we gave imp to people. and see what has happened with us? it is a deeply ingrained habbit of us to give importance to peoples right rather then state. see what happened in case of maratheshahi?? the power greed between the two bhonsales lead(one reason) to the emergence of peshwayi. the power greed between two peshwas lead to the fall of peshwayi!! the power greed between mns and shivsena leads to their and bjps heavy defeat in loksabha elections. and still it is going on and on....! this happens becoz we place our ambitions above nations. same happens in a political party. a political party is like an institution (same as a nation) which should be given utmost importance above all. but such does not happen. such will not happen. becoz we encourage self goals to be above the nations. for a nation, its state is the most important all other are secondary.
did gandhijis nonviolence stopped the partition? did his liberal thinking help to gain him a great personality(pakistani people hates him, considering him the greatest kafir). he was certainly a mahatma and he tried to make common people a 'mahatma'. now is it possibe? we should ask ourselves!! a society cannot be as a whole be full of mahatmas ruled by a nation who does not have an army. there are variety of people leaving in a society and we cannot all change them by mere love. love is most essential!! but with love there should be respect(adaryukt bhiti) a phrase in marathi. so shree krishna proposed a niti- sam, dam(u.s.a-money diplomacy) , 'dand'(china), bhed(british).
and if u want to make a society non violent and all lovable first master a control over the whole world. money will give u power, power will give authority, authority will give right to impose, impress, and this will help u to put ur teachings into practice FOR A LONG TIME. i repeat no one can make a society a mahatma, people are not great, they have to be ruled, controlled, threatened(if do a crime), and directed! Gandhijis teachings are not practised in his own home country becoz they WERE GREAT TEACHINGS, SO GREAT THAT THE PEOPLE CANNOT ADJUST THEMSELVES WITH IT. AND WHEN WHOLE WORLD IS AHEAD OF U SINGING DIFFERENT TUNES HOW U COULD IMPRESS UPON THEM UR THINKINGS WHEN U DONOT HAVE THE POWER TO DO SO? ASOKA ALSO FIRST CONQUERED AND THEN ONLY PREACHED BUDDHISM. GANDHIJIS TEACHING ARE NOT PRACTICAL(NON VIOLENCE FOR SURE).
WHAT DO U THINK SIR??
Respected Sir,
After reading the blog there is a clear difference evident in the analogies of Mahatma Gandhi and Mao, on one side Mahatma Gandhi promoted the non-violence and freedom for all which are quintessential elements of democratic nation, whereas Mao resorted to means of violence to curb the voice and aspirations of his people. In this way he Mao was successful initially but he laid the foundation of a Time-Bomb which is triggering constantly and will blast once the furore and angst of the people of china comes out in open it would topple any authoritarian communist rule. Gandhiji's philosophy was correct as the people of India don't feel suppressed and deprived in their own nation. In the end whatever differences were there between Gandhiji and Mao got disapparated, and they were thinking on the llines of Sino-Indians are brothers after all. The blog was a good expression of thoughts and cleared the differences in functioning between two neighboring nations, but the foundation is the same and that is love and Humanity.
Warm Regards,
Anurag Khandekar,
Carnegie Hall,
Fall'09
and i also should make clear that this are mere thoughts(queries). i do not firmly beleive them nor do i stick behind them. this may help to know us gandhiji better.
Akshay - you are right. The sheer power of Gandhiji's simple vision is so astounding, so timeless.. From Mandela to Einstein, and from Martin Luther King Jr to Charlie Chaplin, all were surprised at its power.
Akash - thanks for reading and commenting.
Rhishikesh - Good to see your personal views. Interesting. Live and learn my friend. Very nice to see your passion! As for Peshwayi, Shivaji maharaj always stressed that "Swarajya" is above everyone, including him(self). He was a strong proponent of systems and processes, a true Operations Management person. He never said non-violence if of no use. He only proposed a rightful use of force against marauders (in his case, the Mughals). But it will be worth remembering that Shivaji was the ultimate Gandhi of his time and age - he would never even touch a Mosque or a Muslim woman/child with disdain.. he would in fact offer protection when needed.
Anurag - you seem to have got the nerve of what I wrote. Good.
Respected sir,
U misunderstood me. By writing about the Bhonsales i was referring to the fights between Chatrapati Sambhaji and Soyrabai, Chatrapati shahu and Maharani Tarabai(which broke the maratha knigdom into two parts-kolhapur and satara). Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was great great and great. there are no words to him other then excellent. He was(is) certainly a shreeman yogi!
Good Morning Sir,
I read your blog and as usual it was astonishing and mind boggling.
I just want to share some of my personal views.
Sir as today is Bapu's birthday so we all remember him but what about the rest 364 days of the year. Do we really mean what he did for our country. I doubt that, many of us respect him just for the sake of respect. But is this the respect he deserves???
In our Global MDP session of Mr John De Marteau the lines he said about Mr. Gandhi were "I place Bapu next to Jesus" these six words shook my heart and soul.When a person in America possess such feelings what we are doing as an Indian. Many a times I thought to share this feeling with others in chaupal but stopped myself because we Indians become patriotic only for three to four days in a year and I am no other exception. Today I thought was the right day to write this ,so i just shared what all i felt.
Warm regards
Rahul Mundra
Fall 09
Respected Sir,
I just loved the flow of the post and the way you conveyed your feelings.
I just thought about 2 things through out the post and those are :
1) Respect
2) Fear
Can both of them go together?
And to my surprise as I read in last couple lines I got my answer.Thank you for the Question and answer for the same!!!!!!
Proton Prasad Nehete
Carnegie Hall Fall-09
Respected Sir,
Thank you for such a creative post. Perhaps we find in future, some social, political, technical issues, dressed beautifully in poetic acoutrement.
A debate on the relevance of Gandhi in today's time as well as during the times of Freedom Struggle, is a routine affair on every 2nd October. While some believe that without martyrs like Bhagat Singh, without militarism of Bose, Free India would had remained a utopian world. To walk on Gandhi's principles was to walk on the lifelong path of personal transformation, and before taking up that path, one needs to be free.Gandhian philosophy was good for post-independence era.
Others believe that it was Gandhiji who raised the nation from slavery to authority. But now, it stands unfit and impractical for this protean world. The biggest truth is that if we go to any corner of the earth and ask any stranger to name two Indians he has heard of in his lifetime; the answer is likely to be (1) Gautam Buddha (2) Mahatma Gandhi. I reserve my thoughts on both. After reading the blog, I explored about Mao Tse-Tung. I never read anything aabout him before.
Every post of yours ignites the curiosity to know more about the topic and gives direction to one's search.
Thank you Sir for finding my comment on the Genographic Project, noteworthy.
Regards
Sincerely
Nidhi Agarwal
Good Morning Sir,
Good post.You expressed both(Gandhi's and Mao's) thoughts very well.
At last in this article Mao says "Maybe Hindi-Chini surely can be Bhai-Bhai". But sir there is no place for words like "May or May be" in brotherhood. That means China does not consider India as it's brother and it is said in politics that if some one is not your friend than he can be your enemy. So, should India treat china as it's enemy?
Please give your views about this.
Your PROTON
C.P. Vyas
Fall-08
Hello Sir,
Reading this blog & the hope left at the end reminded me about your performance on the song “Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna . . .”
Even if we dream about… a stable and friendly government in Pakistan which would help us to concentrate on our progress and easy settlements of our internal security issues, we would soon be a developed nation instead of a developing nation.
It’s an excellent conversation, but I missed one person here . . .Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri
"Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, now also Jai Vigyan”
Proton Varun Agrawal
Fall 08 Batch
Respected Sir,
The conversation between two great leaders of their era is good to listen, but the reality is some how different. Here are some facts of today’s world for which I believe the two nations are not coming closer but are ready for a hand to hand fight.
1. In November 1951, at the presentation of the credentials of the first Pakistani ambassador to Beijing, it was Mao who spoke of the 'long friendship between the two countries'. Though at that time the 'long friendship' was only four years old, today it has become 'deeper than the oceans and higher than the mountains', as was reiterated several times by the Chinese leadership during General Musharraf's two recent visits to China. This friendship is so strong that when tension began to escalate between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the December 13 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament or after the Mumbai attack the 'old' friendship translated into the immediate supply of armaments by China to Pakistan, the proof of which could be found in newspapers of Pakistan.
The News, in Islamabad, wrote: 'China dispatched five ships to Karachi in the span of about 10 days. The ships were loaded with cargo ranging from cartons of unassembled brand new combat aircraft and a variety of air force-related weapons and equipment. The brand new aircraft were believed to be F-7MG, which Pakistan had ordered earlier. Pakistan had ordered two squadrons, about 40 aircraft, to beef up its ageing fleet.'
2. We know that China has deployed ships in our territory of Indian Ocean. A comment from some Chinese official was –“Indian Ocean no longer belongs only to India”.
3. I came across an article in The Hindu – “China increasing its air defense on its border near Arunachal Pradesh”.
4. The building of a railway line to Lhasa could have the most disastrous consequences for India's security. It is perhaps the gravest threat to India since the building of roads by the People's Liberation Army in Tibet in the fifties. Delhi should not fool itself, especially after the Chinese themselves have admitted that the railway line will 'strengthen the borders'.
5. Also the water from Tibet which is said to be the source for most of the rivers in north India is said to be controlled by China. For e.g. -the floods that occurred in the spring of 2000 in Arunachal Pradesh and in Kinnaur area in July 2000, which washed away many Indian strategic roads and bridges (especially along the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh). There are good reasons to believe these floods were not natural calamities, but human-triggered.
6. Also we know that Aksaichin a part of India occupied be Pakistan, is now in the hands of China which it is now utilizing as a army base where it is deploying forces against India.
7. A report said that – China has made its infrastructure so strong that it can deploy forces in large number throughout the border within an hour.
For these reasons I don’t think that this talk between the two great men of their era is worthwhile.
Regards,
Proton Ankit Sharma
Fall 09
Indore Campus
Interestingly, the last issue of the Economist talked about the different ideas of justice and fairness. I don't remember the names precisely (there was the Kantian, the Aristotle one, and another) but essentially they boiled down to the following choices: a) The individual is king, b) Society is king, and c) the noble principle is king. China has clearly followed b).
Good Morning Sir,
Many have put in wonderful comments. But I was just observing that with one master thought, there arise so many peripheral ideas. Thank you very much for writing.
Blog is probably the best way to express oneself today. Can you guide me how to own and maintain one's own blog.
Yes Sulabh I can. The best way to start your blog is to read our 3 blogs daily. All you need is there! best wishes..
Yes Manas, China has brutally followed the second choice with all its aberrations.
Ankit, thanks for a well-researched reply. Good to have your point of view. I'm happy.
Varun, Chandra Prakash, Nidhi, Prasad, Rahul, Rishikesh - thanks for reading and commenting.
Dear Sir,
After reading this blog there is a question in my mind "do we really value our nation, our philosophy, culture?..". I still remember the words of Mr. Rojer Harrop "we don't want China to lead the world", this words clearly bring out the difference of our culture and philosophy and at last the global image of our nation.
I feel proud to be a part of such great nation. But the fact that makes me worry is we need to preserve and take care of all such valuables of our contry.
JAI HIND.
Yours faithfully,
Gautam Gunjaria
Fall 2009 intake
Wonderful Imagination... Gandhi talking to Mao..
One more i thought of .. what Gandhi or Mao would have learned from the present.But it is very hard to contemplate
Gandhi bashing has become quite fashionable these days.It is easy to blame though .But one needs to identify the true genius of his leadership and elemental and central role in freedom movement.
"You either die hero or live long enough to see yourself as villain" -- The Dark Knight
i believe both the leaders lived long enough to be said so my some.
Two philosophies are quite complementary..I believe.. one need
a mix of both.
So I have kept Gandhi's AutoBio and Hitler's Mein Kampf side by side in my book shelves. :))
some more points i would like to mention sir-
1)its return at the back of mein kamp-'Cruelty impresses, people want to be afraid of something, the masses need that!
2)shreemant madhavrao peshwe ordered to cut hands of some 500 soilders who did not follow his order and destroyed the farmlands of the conquerred territory.(ref- 'swami', a novel by ranjit deshmukh).
3) chatrapati shivaji maharaj ordered 'kade lot'(to push down from a hill top) for chatrapati sambhaji maharaj's(his son) crime of kidnapping a widow. but since the chatrapati(crowned prince) cannot be given death sentence such thing nevr happened.
4) in the days of peshwayi and even after during the british the people who were even found theiving something(bhurte chor)were hanged to death so that there would be fear among the praja to do any crime. what would haev they done if thers a bank robbery, i wonder!! reference- punyacheya peshwe(pune's peshwa).
what do u think about this sir seeind todays law system and increased crime? would they prove effective???
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