Gandhi Jayanti

For my kids, I started lighting a lamp at the altar every morning (I confess, I have become less regular after they got the concept). For my kids, I stopped using swear words inside the house (on the phone, while talking to friends etc). So, today, I decided to tell them about Mahatma Gandhi for their bedtime story. I have two boys. One is 5 and the other 2. I was surprised how much interest the elder one took. Of course, the for the younger one it was a bed time story as any other. The elder one wanted to know more. So, we got out of bed and I looked up Gandhi videos on video.goolge.com. Showed him a couple of small parts of the movie and then showed him a few photos from images.google.com! Thanks to technology for all this. Coming back to the point: me and my wife told him about MK Gandhi's birth place, his education for barrister in London, his apartheid experience in S Africa, his non-violence concept, British Raj, independence and stuff like that. All this in 10 or 15 odd minutes. Very good intro to Gandhi and some part of our old culture. Afterwards, my wife and I discussed how Bharat came into being.

Anyway, if you have kids and you have the chance, please tell them about Gandhi and his ideals. Some of his ideals are applicable in all walks of life whether in USA, England or in India (or wherever else in the world). Please introduce your children to some of the good values that Gandhi represented.

Finally, they are showing the movie Gandhi on cable in Aurora, IL. So, if you are reading this at about 9:38 PM on Monday Oct 1st central time, stop reading and turn to channel 40 on TV.

Good night.