Gaurav's Blog

 

Invictus

 

 

Anyone can start a revolution. It takes greatness to stop one.  

"…..I'm thinking about how you spend 30 years in a tiny cell, but come out ready to forgive the people who put you there…."

-           From the movie Invictus

Oct 02, 1992: The only cinema hall at Mbabane, the pretty hill capital of Swaziland, a country of less than 1 million people, played Richard Attenborough's GANDHI the whole day, all 4 shows.  It didn't quite made sense to a teenager, why Gandhi should be an important subject in a nation 8500 miles away from India. A vast ocean separated the 2 continents of Africa and India, and my passport read – 'not valid for entry into South Africa', but there was an unexplained link between the destinies of these nations.

Later that evening, my father had invited all his office mates for an evening together at a local Pizza restaurant. It was bitterly cold outside, so diners were all huddled together around a large rectangular table that hosted our entire group. There were other diners on the single corner tables. The evening discussions were centered on the ongoing Barcelona Olympics and the medal tally. Invariably, the discussions moved to how South Africa- allowed back into the games for the first time since the Apartheid era, was performing. I seem to remember that I said something to the effect that South Africa's performance was disappointing and even Kenya were doing better in the medal tally.

"…But it is still better than India.. at least we are assured of a medal.."

 I heard a very sharp retort coming from behind me. Completely shocked from someone unexpectedly interrupting our conversation, I looked back to see a straight-faced white man staring at me and from what it seemed like, very eager to take the debate further. My father's Swazi colleague signaled to me to ignore the man and we all got back to concentrating on the pizza as if nothing had happened. Again, I did not quite understand, what made the white man take such grave offence.

A few weeks later, I was strolling down the local Swaziland mall, wearing a black color t-shirt with a large red color Nazi Swastika on it. Sold on Bangalore street corners, Hitler and Nazi symbols, while poorly understood, were sure to add to a teenager's cool quotient ratings. As I crossed the street corner, I saw a large black man, presumably Zulu, twice my height and width, coming towards me. He was looking straight at me and as he came closer and closer, I could sense, that we were not just crossing each other on the street, instead he was coming at me. No evasive action was possible, and before I knew, I sensed being picked up into the air with large blood-shot eyes in my face. The man could perhaps sense my fear because he said nothing and put me back down on the ground. I was shivering by now. He then pointed to the red sign on my t-shirt telling me if I were smart, I would not wear that t-shirt again and that he was telling me this for my own good.  Completely hysterical and confused I ran back home and narrated the incident to my mother, who called my father at office. It was only later, that we learnt that AWB, the right wing, heavily armed and very often militant, Afrikaners Party used a version of Swastika as their symbol.

The early 90's were extraordinary times in South Africa and as a teenager one couldn't have learnt there significance until much later.

 12 June, 1998: The blue red and white Filipino flag with a golden sun slowly went up the pole as tears filled the eyes of my office colleagues who watched the ceremony to commemorate 100 years of freedom. The birth of a free nation is always a solemn moment and its celebration even more so. I stood witness too as the Filipino national anthem played. At my graduate school, our dean quoted Gandhi, and related the Filipino freedom struggle to his thoughts. While the Filipino Freedom struggle is replete with violence, Gandhi's thoughts, he said, were relevant to them. While no longer a teenager, one wondered why nations that won their freedom through an armed struggle still regarded Gandhi's thought as central to their manifestos.

12 December, 2009:   I attended a special screening of Invictus, a movie that describes true events before and during the South Africa of 1995. Apartheid is long since dead, at least in the law, if not completely in the spirit just yet, for vestiges of an evil, once created, die slow and even in dying leave behind relics that threaten to manifest themselves all over again in newer forms.

In South Africa of today for instance, it appears that, Indian, (or any other community) is not a race nor a nationality, not even a mistaken identity christened by an explorer. It is a category, for all people must be categorized for their rights to be determined and apportioned. One morning, a 5 year old, my son, posed to me a question as to whether he is Indian. Isn't it odd for a toddler to be that aware of his category at such a young age?  

In their naivety governments, not just here in South Africa, still believe they can somehow go back in time and reverse the excesses of the past. And how? By doing exactly that, what was deemed unfair and unjust even back then, except, this time to a different category of people.  It is an excellent example of how in trying to correct the past, we can't embrace the future.

The laws of physics govern that every action must have an equal reaction; that a pendulum, once swung to an extreme, must swing back to the other, opposite extreme. Those are irrefutable laws of our physical world.

It is exactly in this context that Gandhi's thoughts but what is even more so- Mandela's actions, which came much later in time, define true leadership. Almost anyone can start a revolution when the conditions are right. Make a few inflammatory speeches, cobble together a band of followers and if a cause is deemed worthy, people will sacrifice themselves. Infact, you can buy ready, custom made revolutions off the shelf today with help from some big brother nations. 

Both Mandela and Gandhi, however, managed to STOP a revolution. That is, stopped a revolution going the wrong way. Gandhi stopped Civil disobedience movement when it turned violent. Mandela stopped his people from seeking revenge when Apartheid was demolished. He taught them reconciliation and forgiveness. Both stopped the pendulum midway, refusing to be governed by Newtonian laws. They refused to be subdued by popular sentiments of their own people, instead showing them the righteous path. That takes a lot of courage. They knew it would meet resistant from their own, most loyal supporters but will eventually result in the greater good.

Very few men have achieved this.