Gandhi'ji

In the wake of all the hype created by the various newspapers over the publication of a new autobiography on Mahatma Gandhi, I find myself wondering a couple of things.

Like, how different the Indian scene would have been had there not been a British occupation to begin with. The only reason that Gandhi'ji even became known was because of the presence of the English.

And how India would have turned out had the British not unified it under one rule, making us feel like one nation. Rather than being a fragmented subcontinent ruled by various dictators and kings.

Given the state of the British empire at the time of our independence, would we have not gotten our freedom without Gandhi'ji anyway? Many other countries won their independence around the same time.

People keep saying that, had Gandhi'ji not been around, India would have gained its independence much earlier. Well that maybe true. We can't be sure. But the way things turned out, Gandhi'ji's popularity with the world as the peace-loving Indian freedom fighter is unrivalled. Schools around the world teach their children about him out of respect for his efforts. So even if we may have been led to believe that he won us our independence, he most certainly won the hearts of the world.