Gandhi Jayanti

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Peace Be With You/Ahimsa/Shalom Aleichem

This summer, the United Nations declared today, Gandhi Jayanti (Mahatma Gandhi's birthday), to be the International Day of Non-Violence. Gandhi's birthday is an Indian national holiday.

As I'm writing this, the five-year-old boy next door is outside, scream-singing, "Jingle Bells," the catchy Christmas song. During Ganesh's birthday and the neighborhood block party, the same neighbor was scream-singing "Ganesh, Ganesh, Ganesh..." over and over with sweet zeal.

Stevie Wonder Made Me Cry During a Recent Commute

Since Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday is not until January 15th, it seemed wholly random when I heard Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday" on my way to work a few weeks ago on Radio Indigo.

While listening to the song and looking out the Chevy Tavera window, at all of the people with darker complexions than mine, going about their day, and looking at my driver in the rear-view mirror, I became homesick, even as the particular scene was not familiar. I choked up and felt proud that someone as profound as Dr. King had ever lived.

Walking down the hall at work yesterday morning, I realized that I didn't notice my physical traits in contrast to my Indian colleagues' in as conscious and daily a way as I did for the first weeks of my assignment. I wondered if that's how African Americans move through mostly white areas in the United States -- basically, losing alertness to their visible difference until and unless someone of the majority reminds them.

Honoring Mahatma Gandhi

Yesterday, via e-mail, I wished my Indian colleagues a meaningful Gandhi Jayanti and pledged that in honor of the day and in his memory, I would try to have a more peaceful attitude today. So far, so good, and it's almost time for dinner.

Earlier today, I finished reading The Diary of a Maidservant, which I loved and which inspired me further in posting to this diary-like blog of mine.

There's common ground all around, when I seek it. Although The Diary... was fiction, I related to the peace gained by the low-caste protagonist in recording her thoughts. And Mahatma Gandhi's message of non-violence is universal, too.

Finally, Pat alerted me to an article from today's "New York Times," which talks about the common ground of Indian-Americans and Jewish-Americans...which reminds me that I spoke with my 14-year-old nephew the other day and learned that not only will he perform on his sitar at the upcoming concert, he'll sing a song in Sanskrit.