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Letter from India
an article by Michael True (excerpt)
Meetings with the president and the governor were two of several
memorable experiences during my fifth time in India over the past
twelve years. The week before traveling to Delhi, I had given the
inaugural Gandhi lecture at Vardhaman Mahaveer Open University, "Gandhi
and Global Nonviolence," emphasizing his legacy to the world, Although
the people of India revere the “Great Soul” as the father of their
country, they are not always aware of him as a brilliant political
strategist, as Gene Sharp, Albert Einstein Institute, and other
scholars and researchers, have demonstrated in recent years. In
emphasizing Gandhi's influence around the world, I focused on the
United Nations Decade for the Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the
Children of the World; the Nonviolent Peaceforce, modeled on Gandhi's
Peace Army (Shanti Sena); and nonviolent campaigns, such as Gaviria
Cathedra in Colombia and Father Roy Bourgeois's School of America Watch
in the U.S.
After several opportunities to see India at close range, and
some acquaintance with its history and literature, I am aware of
significant changes in the country over the past decade, as it assumes
its rightful place among major world powers. Although it still harbors
millions of desperately poor people, in a total population of one
billion, one is constantly aware of the culture's richness, power, and
beauty, Increasing prosperity for some citizens is evident in new
office buildings, malls, department stores, and cultural centers in
every major city. Although highly qualified professionals, including
75,000 doctors, continue to leave their native land for higher salaries
and career opportunities elsewhere, that trend is being reversed as a
result of competitive salaries and better working conditions.
Although it’s almost a cliché to say so, I marvel at the fact
that such a huge, complex society, with obvious economic, political,
and religious challenges, continues to function as a democracy. That
fact, along with significant improvements in literacy and agriculture
during the sixty years since independence, is an enormous achievement.
My affection for India, has deeper roots, of course, because of my
remarkable friendships and professional associations, and I am often
aware of Gandhi's legacy in all my travel there. Without his
fifty-year-long struggle, what he called his "experiments with truth,"
the world might have remained unaware of a nonviolent tradition that he
revived and strengthened for the benefit of us all.
Click here for the complete letter.
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LETTER FROM INDIA
Dear Family and Friends,
Driving
along the shaded streets of New Delhi, I approached the center of the
city with a sense of anticipation. And why not? Although I had arrived
there from Boston and elsewhere in India several times before, this
time our destination was the Presidential House (Rastrapati Bhavan).
Turning into the Rajpath, our driver moved slowly through the traffic
and crowds surrounding India Gate, then toward the palace: a
thirty-seven acre complex of gardens, fountains, Victorian archways,
long corridors, and meeting rooms, designed by the British architect,
Sir Edwin Lutyens, in 1929.
We came to a stop at the bottom of
the wide steps approaching the massive front entrance. It was a scene
recognizable to anyone familiar with Richard Attenborough’s great film
Gandhi, 1983, after Gandhi’s successful nonviolent protest
against the British tax on salt in 1930, the Mahatma (Ben Kingsley)
walked purpose-fully up those front steps for a meeting with the
British viceroy. The event symbolized a major victory in the long
effort to end British rule, with independence seventeen years later.
From
the parking lot, my friend and I entered a side entrance, through
various security posts, to a handsome waiting room, where other guests
awaited a meeting with Mrs.. . ...more.
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