Finally finished reading the parallel unbiased biography of two of 20th century's iconic statesmen who are actually remnants of the ideology of the 19th century Victorian values - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.
It traces the time before their birth with the story of their ancestors. Actually, after taking almost 9 month to finish the book at a snail's pace due to its fact compacted but 720+ paged package and my indulgences in my other vices, I can only recall certain salient points of their lives.
Gandhi was born in a humble family whilst Churchill was born with an aristocratic background. They grew up following different pathways, one thinking that might is mightier than than words whilst the other believe that the soul force is mightier than brutal physical force.
One thing common between them was that they both believed that their respective race was superior to the other. Churchill believed that the English were there to unite the inferior native race via their administrative and ruling skills. Left on their own, the natives would just fight amongst each other and kill each other crazy. In his later of his career, he tries desperately to conserve the majestic British Empire. In his pursuit of glory to his race, he was labelled as an annoyance. Some used his course to advance their own political agenda. In spite of his tough rock stance during the WW2, he was rejected by the war weary nation.
One could be forgiven to think the man of stature would have that Midas touch and could do no wrong. on the contrary, he had his many share of fumbles and disappointment, the fiasco of Gallipoli during WW1 being one.
Unfortunately, his offspring could not replicate his political success. Probably, after being in his shadow for too long, Winston's political foes just killed his. In spite of his heavy whisky drinking, penchant for cigar and multiple strokes, he lived to a ripe age of 91.
Gandhi was also racial in his outlook. He considered his subject to be of superior race with a far longer civilization history. The invasion of the conquerors is just a speck in their long history. Some of his quirky ideas were to reject modernization that was brought in by the British, citing them the tool of evil. In spite of that, he was a frequent traveller of the then new Railway services for his political tours. He also rejected industrialization and tried to promote the use of khadi and making India a nation of khadi yarning nation.
His dressing was ridiculed. His undying steadfastness to stick to truth and fairness irked his devoted son, Harilal, to take to the bottle, convert to Islam and died as a vagabond in a public hospital a year after the Mahatma's demise.
Although initially Gandhi managed to unite the nation of multiple cultures, religion and languages but once united, the nation turned against him and labelled him a traitor. Many of his followers gave more credence to their political carrier over the values that Gandhi was trying to propagate.
At the end of the day, one really wonders whether all this worth it - living your whole life just for the glory of a piece of cloth that unites a nation of people. Even then in the case of Gandhi, when the day arrived to unveil the flag of the new nation, the consensus decided that Ashoka's wheel should be used instead of the chakra suggested by Gandhi's men during his independence fighting Congress days!
Deep inside us, all of us know that this piece of cloth is the one that binds us together to maintain peace and harmony so that all of us can do our own things without any fear. We also know that this cloth, in spite of being just a piece of cloth, is no ordinary piece of fabric. It is the testimony of our sovereign nation. It is the same piece of material when hoisted upon being raised after winning a medal brings a tear or two to the eye of every true blue Malaysian.
