The Hindu : New Delhi News : Bringing Gandhi closer

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Monday, Dec 03, 2007
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Bringing Gandhi closer

Highly spirited: Noted Gandhian Narayan Desai

Having the fortune of spending a part of his life with Mahatma Gandhi, noted Gandhian Narayan Desai is on a mission to spread the leader’s message to everyone. He shares with Madhur Tankha some fond childhood memories of the Mahatma.

He grew up under the shadow of Mahatma Gandhi and is now taking his socially relevant message of non-violence to every corner of the country. Noted Gandhian Narayan Desai has dedicated his entire life to making people understand Bapu’s vision of life through his writings and speeches.

During the five-day-long ‘Gandhi Katha’ that concluded in the Capital this past week, 82-year-old Desai -- son of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal secretary Mahadev Desai -- took time out from his busy schedule to give an insight into the Mahatama’s life that may not be found in books but is known only to people close to him.

Mr. Desai’s first brush with Bapu was when he was only a month old. “My mother took me to Gandhi Ashram in Gujarat. I remember Bapu ever since I became conscious of the world.”

Narrating his childhood experience of living with Bapu, Mr. Desai says until he was eight-year-old, Gandhiji was more like a friend to him. “We used to go together to the Sabarmati river and splash water on each other. Even though the age difference between us was 56 years, he was never thoughtful of his age.”

Describing the Mahatma as the most joyful person he had ever met, Mr. Desai says he lived differently from place to place. “I lived close to him for 10 years. We travelled by third class coaches. Bapu usually got up at 4 a.m. and would say his prayers after 20 minutes. At 6 a.m. he would go out for a walk. He would begin his day by meeting people who were not keeping well. At Sabarmati Ashram, he would use me and other boys as walking sticks. We used to walk to the Ahmedabad Central Prison and touch the main door both in the mornings and evenings. Then he would be engaged in his personal activities.”

Recalling Bapu’s penchant for serving bitter edibles, Mr. Desai says while Kasturba would serve delicacies like jaggery and butter to visitors, Gandhiji would serve chatni prepared from neem leaves. “Bapu served the visitors purposefully to encourage them to eat it. He personally would share his meals with guests. And then rest for half an hour,” says the Gandhian, who even at this age continues to spin the charkha.

Spending almost 25 years of his life with Bapu, Mr. Desai says Mahatma Gandhi was a friend who could understand the needs of a child. “He was also a hard taskmaster and saw that the tasks assigned to volunteers were completed on time. His life was one of dedication and simplicity, and he valued ahimsa and truth as the guiding principles of his life. Like Sant Kabir, Gandhiji also followed the inner voice that guided him throughout his life and could justifiably say to the world that ‘My Life is My Message’.”

The octogenarian says when Bapu was assassinated he was in a small tribal village in Gujarat. “I am still staying there and have set up the Institute for Total Revolution where I teach the Gandhian way of life. People from across the country stay as a community there.”

As a tribute to his father Mahadev Desai, he wrote a four-volume biography of Gandhi in Gujarati, a dream his father could not fulfil in his lifetime because of his sudden death in prison on August 15th 1942.

Tracing the evolution of a true satyagrahi through different stages of introspection, self-examination and self-purification during the five-day-long ‘Gandhi Katha’, Desai says the sole aim of the whole exercise was to emphasise the importance of discipline in an individuals’ life, bring religious and communal harmony and make the youth aware of the great man’s philosophy.

Even though ‘Gandhi Katha’ had been penned in Gujarati by the narrator himself, Mr. Desai started reciting it in Hindi from Vardha in Maharashtra. This is the narrator’s 50th Gandhi Katha. Beautifully interspersed with his own lyrics and musical compositions, the Katha blends history and personal experiences vividly.

“I have taken Gandhi Katha to Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and now Delhi. At the request of Gopal Gandhi, I staged a two-day Katha in Kolkata,” says Mr. Desai. His four volumes on Gandhi that he penned in Gujarati in 2004 are now being translated into English.

“The book will be titled ‘My Life is My Message’ and will be released in October 2008,” he adds.

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