It is not often that you start analysing things you have always known. However, I had that chance in the past week. I was in the middle of a very interesting discussion which subsequently boiled into a political maelstrom. The topic was Mahatma Gandhi.
I was hanging around with my usual bunch during lunch. The bunch consisted of an Uruguayan called B and two Italians, P and L. One of the Italians called L has considerable experience living in India and has a fair idea of Indian history and politics. Our discussion was spawned like this:
B: So do you believe in the Military ? And Nuclear Weapons ?
Me: Yes I do believe in my Military very much. I’m still undecided about this world having Nukes, though.
B having lived her life under a dictatorship and was not too impressed with my answer. And asked me “ That is strange coming from someone from the land of the Mahatma.” At this point my Italian friend L interjected and laughed and said in a very absolutist and judgemental manner “Are you kidding !? These guys have trashed Gandhi long time ago. No one cares anymore. The upper caste have systematically eradicated all teachings of Gandhism.”
The last sentence hit me as ignorant. I did want to stop and laugh. B ignored him and continued with her interest “So, why do you support the military?”
Me: “The military is what keeps my country a democracy. Unlike many other nations, the military in India has never crossed the line of democracy. That’s why I support it.” B was fairly happy with my reasoning and resigned. Then I turned to L and picked his last comment and told him I was very offended by his comment and that it was very irresponsible. Being a man of fairly large ego, he was flustered. The debate began.
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