Thirtana PONNUSAMI, 11 years old
– Come on! It is dodo time!
– No Paati. It is story time!
– First tell me, how was your day kiddo?
– It was superb! This week, we browsed through a lot of new and fascinating things at school. I learnt more about our new national bird-The Mauritian Kestrel. I cut a coloured drawing of our beloved Dodo painted in the colours of our national flag-Red, Blue, Yellow and Green.
My friends and I tied our artworks to long strings, which we proudly placed in front of our classrooms. Also, there was the daily rehearsal of the upcoming ceremony and particularly that of our national anthem which we practised singing in the scorching sun. You won’t believe me? Some pupils have forgotten quite a few lines of the anthem. Most probably due to the pandemic and the cyclonic weather! I wonder what Jean Georges Prosper would think of that!
I started to hum the song and abruptly said in a voice filled with nostalgia:
-It all started on the 12th March 1968. I was nine years old when Mauritius obtained its independence. The flag raising ceremony at Champ de Mars is still vivid in my mind and I can still hear the soul-stirring and newly-composed anthem being played by the Police Band like it was yesterday.
-Oh! But Paati, I have had a question lingering in my mind for so long. Why do we celebrate our independence day on the 12th March? Why this date in particular?
-Oh dear! That’s a very interesting question that nobody has asked me before.
I leaned on to the side bookshelf, flipped some books and grabbed the biography of a thin round-bespectacled man.
-Do you know him?
-I remember having seen his statue in Moka!
-You are right. His name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and he is affectionately called Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhiji or Bapu. Not only statues, but also his name is present everywhere in the world. On bank notes in his native India, street names, colleges, schools…
– Oh! Is he that famous?
– Yes!
– But what does Gandhiji have to do with the date of our independence in Mauritius Paati?
– He organised a Salt March…
– What? A Salt March?
– Before India became independent in 1947, the Indians had to suffer several injustices. Among these, one of the cruellest ones was that they had to pay huge taxes on salt which was produced on their own territory!
Now you see, Gandhiji was a lawyer who was allergic to injustices. He had a most powerful weapon: Non-violence. He started a 24 day-long march to denounce this. This started on the… 12th March 1930! He crossed several villages on his way and spoke to people making them understand the need for this act of civil disobedience. By the time he reached his destination at Dandi, Gandhiji took a small lump of salt and defied the Salt Law of 1882, which prohibited Indians from making their own salt!
– Ah! Now I understand!
– When Mauritius obtained its independence from the British, they were given the choice to choose a particular date. It was then that Dr Seewoosagur Ramgoolam along with those brave Mauritians involved in our independence struggle decided to choose the 12th March as a tribute to Gandhiji’s Salt March. Dr Ramgoolam studied in London and had met Gandhiji during his student days as a follower of the Fabian society.
– But Paati, it is unbelievable when we see the scale of violence everywhere in the world especially in Ukraine and the Middle East right now that a peaceful protest like the Salt March could help advance a cause.
-Those were other times, my dear!
– Paati! Please tell me more about Mahatma Gandhi.
-Gandhiji was a lawyer and a spiritual leader who spread the message of peace, unity and non-violence in London where he studied Law, in South Africa and in his native India. His fight for the truth to prevail was a lifelong quest.
He was a very simple man who lived a minimalist life. Gandhiji always wore his kadhi, a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth he made himself and which he promoted in order for people to be self-sufficient.
-It is such a pity that my friends do not know about him. I cannot wait to share this with them tomorrow.
– That is wonderful, my dear! Keep on sharing knowledge for it is in giving that we receive. The most important thing is to put into practice his teachings and to “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
“ Vaisnava janato tehne kahiye…”
I hummed this bhajan which was one of Gandhiji’s favourite and made a small prayer that today’s generation should keep on reading about Mahatma Gandhi in order to get inspired by his teachings and the path he created to nurture World Peace.
– Good night Kiddo!
– Good night Paati!