“Holy day or just a holiday?” I
took pride in this poor attempt at cynical pun. Today was a holiday but still I
wasn’t happy when I woke up, reason being my father had told me that we would
be going to Raj Ghat to see Gandhi’s tomb and pay our respects to him. I wasn’t
interested; my mom even resented the idea.
It was hot but not far. We
reached Raj Ghat in less than half an hour. The place wasn’t as crowded as I
expected it to be. Not shockingly, Anna Hazare was also present, there was a
small contingent of about 50 people around him, then there were tourists; local
and foreign, a hoard of school children in Blue and white, and who could miss
the loud and happy tamilians.
The tomb was beautifully flower
decorated for the occasion. I could say it was special because there was more than
just the Genda Phool that you find everywhere in Delhi. People stood by the
tomb, near the flowers, behind the torch and posed at a thousand more places in
the 15 X 15 space. Momdad went ahead close to the tomb to offer the fist full
of Genda Phool that they had bought at the gate for 10 rupees. I decided to
stand this one out, I stood leaning to the parapet wall surrounding the tomb
and looked at the crowd. Some offered flowers, some bowed their head and some just
wanted to click more and more photos.
Just a couple minutes later I saw
my parents panic stricken faces. My mom’s purse had been stolen. A girl had put
her hand into my mom’s handbag and had stolen the purse while in the crowd paying
respects. We were aghast. Spoke to the security nearby, and looked for the
purse hoping to find it fallen nearby, but it was stolen, deliberately and consciously
stolen.
I was angry, at mother for being
careless, at father for thinking up this useless plan and at myself for not
bothering to stick with my mother in a crowd. Then I was angry at the thief,
she had stolen right in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s tomb! Such irony!!
It reminded me of a line said by
an 18th century poet, he says “No man can be patriot on an empty
stomach” Ofcourse he died 69 years before Gandhi was born. But there was only 1
Gandhi(and there were many other great patriots in history who almost fasted to
their death), but the saying holds good for the thief, she was just trying to
make a living, steal in front of Gandhi’s grave or from a pretty dame, it was
just an attempt to feed herself.
We spent the whole journey back thinking
of what was lost and talking about how we could’ve prevented it and how people
have lost their conscience. Stealing in front of Bapu! 6 hours after the
incident I was still thinking, not about our loss, but the Gandhi connection. How
these values of truth and justice and honesty and everything has turned out to
remain just a sound of humbug! I thought about the Irony again and again, Theft
right in front of Gandhi’s grave, how ironic how ironic... I said that aloud
once.. then silently again. Then it struck me.. this wasn’t ironic, it was
symbolic. Theft at Gandhi’s grave.
