Picture: Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the city of Paramaribo. In the past, the statue would be standing in the middle of a pond surrounded by fountains. There would be a pleasant atmosphere and sometimes you would notice tourists sitting by the pond, but sometimes also crazy beggars taking a dip in the pond. It looked unmaintained which probably led to these round buoy steps with tiles.Last Saturday, on the 2nd of October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi was commemorated. It was a special day for Suriname as well. Activities I read about in the newspaper were: mala (garland) hanging around the neck of our Mahatma Gandhi statue, and on Sunday there was a free movie-night whereby the eight Oscars winning movie “Gandhi” would be shown.
Mahatma Gandhi’s real name actually is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Shortly after receiving his Noble prize for literature, Rabindernath Tagore described Gandhi as the big soul in beggar’s cloths. “Mahatma” what actually means “big soul” turned out to be his honorary title afterwards.
You can google for lots of quotations of Mahatma Gandhi on the internet; each of them carry a valuable message along with them.
It’s not a defeat to confess his mistakes. The confession itself is a victory. – Mahatma Gandhi
Just as every human being, the as God worshipped Mahatma Gandhi also made mistakes in his life. As a child, he was very naughty and would steal money from his brothers and parents to buy cigarettes with it to smoke. He secretly ate meat, because his Muslim friends were stronger than him and one of them said that he’s weak because he doesn’t eat meat. But that naughty and average child, who had problems with tables and multiplications, turned out to be one of the most noble and honored people on earth. He was ready to give up his own life so that thousands of people wouldn’t have to give up their lives in a bloody racial civil war. His path to suffer and sacrifice his own life for the peace and happiness of millions of people, made him immortal and he still lives forward in the hearts of millions. After having been murdered at an age of 78, almost one million people, twice as many people as the inhabitants of Suriname, gathered to attend the cremation of this Mahatma.
My salute to this wonderful man!
