Gandhi's story is definitely remarkable - here's a nice concise summary (which incidentally shows Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley, as having been pretty accurate and as having included all the important events:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/8522/gand_eng.html

It seems poignant and significant that Gandhi was assassinated by one of his own people (a Hindu) rather than "disappeared" by the British. Many people would see a complete denial of violence as a denial of their freedom and a denial of their right to protect themselves. If you subscribe to non-violence and violence is committed against you (or more significantly against those you love) you just have to take it on the chin, accept it and live with it - and there are no half-measures. You need to be a saint, or at least to have a perspective far wider than that of individual lives.

It says a great deal for Gandhi's followers - and perhaps for the Indian people in general - that they achieved what they did and stuck to their guns (or rather the absence of guns).

Sadly, I don't think Gandhi's story will ever be repeated. The world's a much smaller, more cynical, self-serving place, and most of its objectives are short-term. Doves get shot as often as hawks, as both endanger vested interests.

We're back to the relationship between Western and Eastern cultures again, with the school report still saying "could do better".


"Delta Blue" Fish