Thursday, December 17, 2009

A Glory Has Departed



When I was in grade 12 as usual I participated in the inter school speech competition and I was selected to participate in the zonal level competition. I was asked to prepare a narrative speech. My English teacher Ms Tharmalingam selected a lovely speech for me. It was the speech given by Jawaharlal Nehru about Mahathma Gandhi, "The Glory Has Departed". It was indeed an inspiring one. I still love to read that. I wanted to share it with you all too friends. In the zonal level I was awarded the second place too :)

[Editor's Note: Jawaharlal Nehru was a scholar, writer, and the first Prime Minister of India. This speech was delivered on February 2, 1948 before the constituent Assembly at New Delhi, 3 days after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru expresses the shock and grief of the people of India at the loss of their beloved leader.]

We praise people in well-chosen words and we have some kind of a measure for greatness. How shall we praise him and how shall we measure him, because he was not of the common clay that all of us are made of? He came, lived a fairly long span of life and has passed away. No words of praise of ours in this House are needed, for he has had greater praise in his life than any living man in history.

And during these two or three days since his death he has had the homage of the world; what can we add to that? How can we praise him, how can we who have been children of his, and perhaps more intimately his children than the children of his body, for we have all been in some greater or smaller measure the children of his spirit, unworthy as we were?

A glory has departed and the sun that warmed and brightened our lives has set and We shiver in the cold and dark. Yet, he would not have us feel this way. After all, that glory that we saw for all these years, that man with the divine fire, changed us also--and such as we are, we have been molded by him during these years; and out of that divine fire many of us also took a small spark which strengthened and made us work to some extent on the lines that he fashioned.

And so if we praise him, our words seem rather small and if we praise him, to some extent we also praise ourselves.

Great men and eminent men have monuments in bronze and marble set up for them, but this man of divine fire managed in his life-time to become enshrined in millions and millions of hearts so that all of us became somewhat of the stuff that he was made of, though to an infinitely lesser degree. He spread out in this way all over India not in palaces only, or in select places or in assemblies but in every hamlet and hut of the lowly and those who suffer. He lives in the hearts of millions and he will live for immemorial ages.

What then can we say about him except to feel humble on this occasion? To praise him we are not worthy-to praise him whom we could not follow adequately and sufficiently. It is almost doing him an injustice just to pass him by with words when he demanded work and labor and sacrifice from us; in a large measure he made this country, during the last thirty years or more, attain to heights of sacrifice which in that particular domain have never been equaled elsewhere. He succeeded in that. Yet ultimately things happened which no doubt made him suffer tremendously though his tender face never lost its smile and he never spoke a harsh word to anyone. Yet, he must have suffered- suffered for the failing of this generation whom he had trained, suffered because we went away from the path that he had shown us. And ultimately the hand of a child of his-for he after all is as much a child of his as any other Indian-a hand of the child of his struck him down.

Long ages afterwards history will judge of this period that we have passed through. It will judge of the successes and the failures-we are too near it to be proper judges and to understand what has happened and what has not happened. All we know is that there was a glory and that it is no more; all we know is that for the moment there is darkness, not so dark certainly because when we look into our hearts we still find the living flame which he lighted there. And if those living flames exist, there will not be darkness in this land and we shall be able, with our effort, remembering him and following his path, to illumine this land again, small as we are, but still with the fire that he instilled into us.

He was perhaps the greatest symbol of the India of the past, and may I say, of the India of the future, that we could have had. We stand on this perilous edge of the present between that past and the future to be and we face all manner of perils and the greatest peril is sometimes the lack of faith which comes to us, the sense of frustration that comes to us, the sinking of the heart and of the spirit that comes to us when we see ideals go overboard, when we see the great things that we talked about somehow pass into empty words and life taking a different course. Yet, I do believe that perhaps this period will pass soon enough.

He has gone, and all over India there is a feeling of having been left desolate and forlorn. All of us sense that feeling, and I do not know when we shall be able to get rid of it, and yet together with that feeling there is also a feeling of proud thankfulness that it has been given to us of this generation to be associated with this mighty person. In ages to come, centuries and maybe millennia after us, people will think of this generation when this man of God trod on earth and will think of us who, however small, could also follow his path and tread the holy ground where his feet had been. Let us be worthy of him.

Monday, November 16, 2009

A day out with my friends…



It was a lovely Saturday. As I remember the 12th September, 2009. My friend Yaamini, Chayini (previously blogged as Paavai) and my self visited the books exhibition held at BMICH. Chayini went to BMICH early and my friend and I joined after attending the lectures that morning. We went to BMICH around 11.45 am. Chayini was waiting at the entrance of the main block inside BMICH premises. Until we go there she had had an ice cream and a coca cola. :)

As we went there, we couldn't get inside the main block as there was a huge crowd. Then we went to the next section where there was Expo graphics, Poobalsingham, Jeya book center etc. On the way to that block there were food stalls of Mount Lavenia hotel and another hotel. My both the friends go hungry as they saw that. But since it was a vegetarian day they would only have a look at those foods. :)

As we stepped into the Expo graphics my friend started screaming, saying she can't get into that massive crowd. At last Chayini and I managed to take her in. We were searching for few books and at last couldn't find them. Then we moved from there to another stalls. My friend even didn't step into some shops as it was so crowded. I however managed to buy few lady birds books and stationeries for my brothers and my sister's kids. Chayini managed buy few kavithai books and stationary where other friend bought some cookery recipe books.. :)

Then we came out of that block and went to the bargain shops. A really interesting thing happened there. There we saw a CD shop which had Sinhala movies. Chayini wanted to buy a movie CD. But unfortunately she forgot the name, but remembered the name of the director. Poor sales boy without knowing that Chayini didn't know to read Sinhala gave a lot of CD for her to see whether the one she wants is there. Chayini stood staring at the CDs. Then the guy understood the situation and started reading the names one by one. But what Chayini wanted was not there. :(

The time was around two o'clock as we left that place. My other friend started to complain that she is hungry. We went in search of vegetarian foods and at last only found Maggie noodles :(. With huge long faces we three had to have noodles (Maggie 2 minutes) as our lunch. Then we visited some more stalls in the main block. The book "The boy next Door" by Enid Blyton, was not available in the places where we searched for that and have to leave without the book. :( Then on the way we saw a person selling candy floss and my friend and Chayini wanted to have it very badly. The funniest part was that a 10 year kid saw that and was just passing by, but ladies of 20s wanted candy floss. :P As we bought the candy floss and turned we met our It programming lecturer with her kid. She couldn't stop laughing at us and these two were also embarrassed as we saw her. As she was one of my favorite lecturers I was bit sad that we couldn't have a chat with her. Then they had the candy floss standing under a tree. Then after few more stalls, we left the place around 3.30 in the evening. The most interesting part was that Chayini and my friend enjoyed foods equally to the books at the BOOK FAIR... :)) . Even though only three of us went there, we really had a very nice time there. It is another unforgettable day for me.

Blooming again to join the garden

This flower bloomed two years back. I was highly taken away by my friend paavai's blog. This made me think to write my own blog. As I had plenty of time those days, I started writing this as a hobby. I posted few posts. Then as I was loaded with my studies and work I couldn't write continuously. I posted few articles when ever time permitted.

Now again as I am done with my studies for now, thought of continuing the nangai page. Hope I will be able to write continuously without long breaks again.