OPINION - The world commemorated Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birthday on October 2, which the UN declared International Day of Non-violence.
In India, October 2 is a public holiday, and to mark his birthday, the Indian government released commemorative coins.
Over the years, a hundred countries have issued postage stamps honouring Gandhi, the latest being France. Here in South Africa, there are no postage stamps to honour him, although he left his mark on the country. His granddaughter Ela Gandhi and religious leaders from different denominations laid a wreath at his memorial site. Gandhi does not need a statue to commemorate his 150th birthday. He lives in the soul of every Indian in this country.
Known the world over as the great pacifist, he inspired men like Martin Luther King jr, Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama.
But the commemorative events in India were marred when thieves stole some of his ashes and defaced his painting.
Gandhi is not only remembered for his passive resistance movement against the British, both here and in India, but also for the famous incident of being thrown off a train in Pietermaritzburg. To commemorate this event, the Pietermaritzburg Gandhi Memorial Committee held the 150th annual Mahatma Gandhi peace march in the city on Sunday (Daily News, October 7).
This incident reminds me of my grandfather, who used to travel regularly by train sitting in the whites-only coach because he looked like a white man. Born of a secret liaison between a French nun and her Indian lover in the former French enclave of Pondicherry, the baby was given away to be brought up by an Indian family. When he grew up, he came to South Africa, married a woman who was opposite to colour and bore some offshoots with a fair skin.
Unfair as it was in racist South Africa, he enjoyed the privilege of sitting in a whites-only coach. Gandhi was thrown off the train, but not my grandfather.
T Markandan Kloof
Daily News