The difficulty of being an idealist

Having lost both his parents by the age of 14 and spurning an offer of shelter and education by his well-heeled, well-meaning uncle, my father set out to join the Hindustani Seva Dal founded by Dr N S Hardikar. During the next two decades, he participated in the freedom struggle and was incarcerated for long periods in various jails.

With India gaining Independence in 1947, like many, he also believed that Ram Rajya would be established eventually in India. The disenchantment did not take long. With the emergence of a new political class and system where some became more equal than others, he started seeing his idealist heroes and peers fall apart.

Undaunted, he decided to take the fight for equity and fairness on his own. He tried to bring to justice the beat policemen bullying and harassing street vendors; overcharging taxi drivers, fleecing porters at railway stations, corrupt civic officials and others.

We, the family members, dreaded going out with him on holidays as we would not know when his fight against corruption would erupt. While he was an affable person with a great sense of humour, none of us in the family merited any consideration as he felt that we are just extensions of his personality.

When my mother founded a new school in the early sixties, my father’s “help” in liaising with the Education Department ensured that no recognition, permit or approval ever came in time. Finally, she had to beg him to stop “helping”.

As the ravages of incarceration in jails and the difficult life during the freedom struggle took their toll on him, the changing situations made him sad and angry. He used to rave and rant against the way the country was moving. He wanted to fix everything with a pair of guns, but fortunately, his heart gave up on him and put an end to his torment and agony.

With the memories, ideals and values promoted by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru buried and forgotten and the hitherto homeless Lord Rama and his ideals are due to be ensconced behind closed doors in the new Ayodhya temple, India is poised to be the ‘VishwaGuru’ to demonstrate how the endemic corruption and venality can formally be institutionalised in society. No one cares a damn about anything anymore. Constitution provides no guarantees and protection to anyone other than the rich and the influential.

If my father were to be alive today, I can only imagine him desperately searching for not just a "pair of guns" but maybe even a “pair of nukes”. Let us just hope that Lord Ram gives “sabko sanmathi”.