October 2nd

Man, at his highest potentiality, is realised and fullfilled within each creator himself..... Whether the creator is alone or finds only a handful of others like him, or is among the majority of mankind, is of no importance or consequence whatever; numbers have nothing to do with it. He alone or he and few others like him are mankind, in the proper sense of being the proof of what Man actually is, Man at his best, the essential Man, Man at his highest possibility. The rational being, who acts according to his nature.

It should not matter to a creator whether anyone or a million or all men around him fall short of ideal of Man; let him live up to ideal himself; this is all 'optimism' about Man that he needs. But it is hard and subtle thing to realize - and it would be natural to Dagny always to make the mistake of believing that others are better than they really are (or will become better, or they will teach them to become better or, actually, they so desperately want them to be better) - and to be tied to the world by that hope.

This is from Ayn Rand's notes about a character in 'Atlas Shrugged', but when I had read it I never thought from Mahatma Gandhi's point of view. He was that Creator, Creator who stood alone on his path when no one was around him. It didn't matter to him when all the people around him had a different take on India's struggle for freedom. (As it had happened after 'Chauri Chaura' when Nehru, Patel and Jinnah (people as intelligent and smart as them) had all thought that they should let the struggle go on, however, Gandhi ji had a different view. )

(On February 4, 1922, around 2,000 protesters gathered for picketing of the liquor shop at the local market in Chauri Chaura. Sensing the trouble, armed policemen were sent to the city police station to control the situation. The crowd marched towards the market and started shouting anti-government slogans. The policemen fired into the air as a warning signal. However, it had the reverse effect on the crowd who were in no mood to retreat and started pelting stones at the armed policemen. Seeing the situation was getting out of control, the sub inspector ordered the policemen to commence firing on the advancing crowd. Three protesters were killed on the spot, ( 2 Hindu and one Muslim) and several others were injured. Seeing this, the crowd became violent and attacked the police from all the sides. The armed policemen lost their courage to fire, seeing thousands of protesters marching towards them. They retreated to the shelter of the police station. The crowd decided to take revenge for their dead comrades and set fire to the building from all the sides. Twenty-three policemen were burnt alive, including the station sub inspector.

Mahatma Gandhi asked all Indians to end the Non-cooperation movement, and went on a five-day fast to absolve himself of what he perceived as his role in inciting the attacks. Gandhi felt that he had acted too hastily in encouraging a revolt against the British Raj, while not emphasizing the importance of ahimsa (non-violence) and not training the resisters enough. Due to his fast and the exhortation of Congress leaders, Indians gave up civil resistance in 1922.)

Nevertheless, unlike Ayn Rand's character, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was able to change men around him. He put most people through his tough standards of the 'Man'. Some went out crying however most become his ardent followers.

We need him and his ideals in the world more than ever.

October 2nd, is Gandhi jayanti (Mahatma Gandhi's birthday) in India and World Peace Day. A few years ago the UN had agreed to follow on Gandhi ji footstep of peace and termed his birthday as World Peace Day. He still motivates people all around the globe, even Barrack Obama quoted him on 2nd October and wanted world to follow on his footstep. Supposedly he has Gandhi Ji's photograph in his office and questions his every action against Gandhi's philosophy.