Going through what Raj Mohan Gandhi has penned in his ‘Mohan Das: A true story of a Man’ makes it an interesting reading, ofcourse surprising too. When 50, Mahatma Gandhi fell in love with Sarla Devi, a niece (sister’s daughter) of Gurdev Ravindra Nath Tagore. She was 29, a singer, married to Ram Bhuj Dutt Chaudhary who was an editor of a paper in Lahore. Despite his hectic schedules otherwise, the Mahatmass could make it tobe a frequent visitor to Lahore to meet her. Her husband Ram Bhuj Chaudhary was taken aback when he could lay his hands upon certain diary notings made by Mahatma Gandhi in praise of Sarla Devi. The issue caused a furore aggressively turning to a highly unpleasant scenario at the family level with Mahatma’s son Dev Das making all efforts to get it resolved some way or the other.Since it is all revealed by the Mahatma’s own grandson Raj Mohan Gandhi, it is just difficult to doubt the authenticity of the contents.
Read in the context of certain other references like the Mahatma testing his celibacy by applying sexual acrobatics on the inmates of his Ashram e.g. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and other girls –his modus operandi being allowing erection to his male organ on contact with the opposite sex and then restraining himself from discharging. What a peculiar way of test for control on matters like celibacy and sex ? Read further in conjunction with the fact that he could afford a sexual session (with his wife ofcourse) at a time when his father was breathing his last obviously denotes what a tremendous urge of the kind of lust he had for sex.
No harm, nothing wrong in any one falling in love with someone irrespective of age,caste or creed. It is just human and natural too as love is something never to know barriers of any kind.. But identification wise, an individual’s personality –be it an ordinary person or a celebrity, is tobe analysed dispassionately. An era and a history in himself, Mahatma Gandhi was a giant figure of his time and even for times to come. The posterities can’t afford to ignore him. It was after all a Man in him that is revealed otherwise none could easily believe that the author of several dozens of books including ‘My Experiments with Truth’ too could stoop low to a dimension otherwise not considered quite ethical in social circles. One who could give a thousand sermons on ethics with unlimited advices on ‘DOs’ and ‘DON’Ts’ could equally suffer from this kind of routine weakness too. It just establishes that it is an ordinary person or a celebrity, a common Man in him ultimately dominates.
1 comment:
Very strange.
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