We live "as if" we are actually citizens of a free society, "as if" cheating and lying are not mandatory conditions of our day to day life, "as if" the government or its accessory agencies actually mean what they say in their election manifestoes, treaties and policy documents. In the "as if" stance of the "as if" people lies also, what he called the "power of the powerless", because any state which pretends to pitch for 'universal human rights' can not appear to forbid disagreement or compel assent without looking stupid.

In our own history, Gandhi was the very epitome of the "as if" attitude. He in his earlier rebellious days, behaved "as if" it was perfectly natural for him to believe that he could travel along with the white rulers, in a first class railway compartment in South Africa. Later he acted "as if" his belief in his non-violent resistance could erode and finally bring down an empire that straddled the world, and for which the sun never set!

But what's there in it for us (because we have similar straddlers to contend with) is the fact, that the empire did appear to dismantle itself with stupefying rapidity before his repertoire of "as if" beliefs. Gandhi's 'satyagrah' or his appeal for truth to ultimately prevail, is the legacy we have to honour and carry on. Since then the "as if" stance has acquired accretions and its cumulative effect continues to multiply, and to be felt in any, and all areas, where the truth needs to prevail in our lives. There are days of course, nay years, when the "as if" stance is exceedingly hard to keep up, and one is sorely tempted to join them if one can not beat them. What one learns from all this, however, is to not only personally cultivate this attitude, but also to try and spread it around. On an average day, some amount of bullying and bigotry is always surrounding the "as if" people and their non-violent disobedience, dissent and boycott of the authoritarian will, in the face of which they must persist in their belief : "as if" wrongdoing in any sphere of life is neither inevitable, nor does it necessitate tolerance.

So here is more power to us "as if" people.