Oh, oh, I shook Gandhi’s hand.
Well, not the Gandhi most people think of. He’s been dead since well before I was born. (I was born in 1984 for anyone who’s itching to know but too lazy to do research.) I shook the hand of his grandson, Arun, who spoke at ETSU Wednesday night.
Being a member of the press, I had the opportunity to briefly speak to him before his speech in what most people would call a press conference – if you can call a television camera, one “real” reporter and me a press conference.
I was pretty ashamed because, in my opinion, Gandhi deserves more than that.
I was in jeans, I’m horribly ashamed to admit, and the other non-television reporter was similarly dressed. I felt like a fraud and, you know what, I promptly went out Friday afternoon and bought some decent dress pants for the next time I find myself face to face with a person of such magnitude.
Person of such magnitude? Well, to me, yes. He’s the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. I think that’s pretty damn impressive.
My feelings about Mahatma Gandhi are about the closest thing to hero worship you’ll ever get from me. I don’t generally idolize people. I respect them and, in my opinion, few deserve such admiration as Gandhi. He was a dedicated individual who stood up for his beliefs and didn’t back down even when the opposition came with clubs.
Any person who starves himself to help a nation gain its independence deserves some respect. Honestly, how many people can you say that about? Few, I’d wager, very few.
The speech Wednesday was more impressive than I anticipated. I wasn’t so much impressed with the speaking itself, which was great, but the turn out was better than I imagined.
I have never seen such an eclectic group of individuals anywhere in Tennessee, and I was pleasantly surprised. I expected to see professors, of course, and perhaps some students interested in Gandhi’s teachings, but I certainly didn’t expect a packed ballroom. And, the kinds of people are what shocked me most.
Now, I’m not saying that there’s a certain “type” of person who would be interested in Gandhi. I’m just saying that I wasn’t expecting pink hair and a lot of leather jackets (I mean Gandhi, vegetarian, hello!) Not that there’s anything wrong with pink hair, I just happened to see at least three people with it at the speech and that seemed a little much.
There were people of every imaginable race and age. Some were in suits, some in ratty clothes and many in between. I saw more diversity in that room Wednesday than I have in almost three years in this state.
On one hand, that upset me because I have to wonder where all these people are hiding themselves on a daily basis. But, it also made me happy because it tells me that there are, in fact, people out there wanting to make this world a better place. And, there were some there that just wanted to pretend they care about such things.
I know, without so much as a doubt, that a good number of people at the speech were either required to be there for a grade or were only there to get extra credit. I know this because by the time the speech itself was over, quite a few seats had been abandoned. I accept this, and I just hope that the kids who ran out took something from the speech other than a few extra points on their final grade. But, I would like to say to those out there who did scamper out early – you suck.
It’s one thing to have left because you had to work or had to get your kid from the babysitter, but to just wander out because the speech itself was over, that’s tacky and rude.
How hard would it have been to stay a few minutes longer to listen to him answer people’s questions? Not very, and you would have heard some interesting stuff as well. Your loss I suppose, but I still find you incredibly ill-mannered.
The speech itself consisted mainly of stories and lessons told by Gandhi to his grandson years ago. Most were funny and some were sad, but all of them focused on making the world better in some way.
Anyone familiar with M.K. Gandhi’s life and teachings will understand that the man was all about peace and non-violent societies. I suggest that anyone who is not familiar with Gandhi become so. It will not only improve your mental well-being (unless you’re really out there to begin with) but it will also help make you look less stupid when talks of India and fasting are brought up.
Go on, there are about a zillion web sites devoted to the man. Type “Gandhi” into Google and you can find everything you ever wanted to know about Gandhi and probably more. If you’re also interested in Arun Gandhi or the Institute for Nonviolence you can look them up, too. Same Google, third hit from the top. Easy peasy. And, if that doesn’t work, well you can always type in www.gandiinstitute.org. Learn something. It’s good for the soul.
Besides, you can always think of it as extra credit for the afterlife.

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