Very appropriate response indeed.
to this:-
I say, ship everything to Harvard or
Berkeley and it will be preserved. Keep things in
India only if you want to turn them to dust.
I say, add the load of Goa's Comunidade records meticulously compiled and
stored during the erstwhile Portuguese regime now being kicked around and is
rotting in unused storerooms, at least in the office building of
Administrador das Comunidades, Mapusa.
floriano
goasuraj
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rajan P. Parrikar" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 10:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Mahatma Gandhi's personal effects.
To Goanet -
Averthanus D'Souza wrote:
Now that an Indian business tycoon has bought them
for $1.8 million is a paradox of unprecedented magnitude.
Mahatma Gandhi himself, who lived a very frugal and
austere life - he did not even have a house of
his own - would have given these things away for
free to some poor person without a second thought.
The paradox lies in the fact that $1.8 million in foreign
currency has left India to benefit an unscrupulous
American 'collector' who made some very unreasonable
demands of the Government of India as a precondition
to pull the items out of the auction.
Which galaxy is Averthanus D'Souza living in?
Let's see - "Indian business tycoon" - booze baron
Vijay Mallya - now the owner of Mahatma's personal
effects. Mallya is known for everything unGandhian and
is unabashedly unGandhian. This is a statement of fact,
not a value judgement - I respect Mallya's freedom to
choose the life he wants to live. The "unscrupulous American"
that Averthanus D'Souza declaims is actually a votary
of the peace movement with utmost regard for Gandhi's
ideas and life.
Averthanus D'Souza speaks of the "unreasonable demands"
wanted of the Government of India by this "unscrupulous
American." Let us examine what they are:
"...to increase government spending on the poor or to
create an international traveling exhibit about Gandhi
that would include the items that would have been
auctioned on Thursday afternoon."
http://tinyurl.com/gandhi-auction
Gee, mighty unreasonable.
I wish the Gandhi memorabilia would have stayed
put in America. For Indians have ZERO regard for
their own heritage. The only quality Indians show in
abundance is self-righteous indignation. Look at the
pathetic state of Birla House or the rubbish memorial
at Rajghat that overturns everything Gandhi stood
for and lived for. Look at the ancient texts rotting
in the dusty library shelves or the archival musical
recordings mothballed into oblivion in All India Radio's
damp dungeons. I say, ship everything to Harvard or
Berkeley and it will be preserved. Keep things in
India only if you want to turn them to dust.
Regards,
r
