It is a strange, strange world. The man who won India independence, who inspired an entire generation of men and women to rebuild India, and who gave the world an unassailable weapon to fight injustice, has been sidelined by the IT baron Bill Gates. This, however, is the truth of modern India. An Economic Times survey shows that India's CEOs and management students think that Bill Gates is more of an icon for them than Gandhi, and why not? Bill Gates opens the gates of cash flow for them, tops the Forbes list of the richest men world wide, and Gandhi? Gandhi goes on padyatras, with a ‘laathi' in his hand and a ragged dhoti on his bare body! He is the quintessential Indian, seeking answers to complicated philosophical and political questions from amongst the poorest of the poor. Bill Gates harvests a rich crop of tech-savvy Indians, with their eyes trained on the West, and little or no concern for the teeming millions of Indians.

So what is it that we need to do to make the Gen Y realise that Gandhi is still relevant? There is now Lage Raho Munnabhai's ‘Gandhigiri' and some suggest Gandhi in comics wearing denim jeans. There are other equally ‘hip' ideas to give Gandhi a makeover, but Gandhi-followers would ask, what message would the new made-over Gandhi deliver?

Gandhi: the consumer activist

What we need to make over is our insight into Gandhian thoughts, and understand that Gandhi's beliefs are perhaps more relevant today in the 21 st century, than they were in the 1900s, when India's consumption patterns were still far more sustainable.


One wonders what Gandhi would have thought of the medical negligence cases piling up in courts, of bank agents roughing up consumers to forcibly take away their cars or recover loans, of e-waste becoming an imminent waste disposal problem as consumers buy and dispose off laptops and cellphones by the minute, or even of pesticides in colas.