Gandhi’s talisman

But the times, they are a-changing. Does anybody have the space to accommodate Gandhi’s three monkeys in his or her life today? Does that simple code of conduct have any relevance to anyone in the globalised 21st century, when every Indian is fast imbibing the ‘I, me, myself’ formula. There is a manifold increase in public anger and private gratification. Old mantras — like ‘work is worship’ — now appear naive and would only invite scorn.

Today everybody is measured by their social and economic status. Yet, when I was growing up, one of first values our parents inculcated in us was to never judge anybody by their fancy designations or wealth. A friend, uncle or aunt was never so-and-so but a friend, uncle, or aunt. That’s it. So we learned to treat everybody alike, irrespective of where they lived or what they did.

Things have come to such a pass today that I sometimes wish everybody could be sent for a ten-day Vipassana session. Observing just half those regulations itself would tamp down the rising cacophony around us. If that is not possible, let us do the next best thing. Let us remember the message of Gandhiji’s favourite three monkeys. Munnabhai has shown, in his own quirky way, that there is still hope for change. Let us — for the sake of our children and ourselves —see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.