There are seven sins in the world: Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice and politics without principles’.

Sounds familiar? Maybe yes, maybe not. If no, then it’s time you had a look at this unusual calendar, if yes, you can still have look at it and remember a legend and probably have a rendezvous with him.

In unusual spots, amidst the poorest of the poor, in foreign locations. All in black and white, the Father of the Nation is all there in this souvenir. We are indeed talking about ‘Mahatma, the true spirit of a nation’, the calendar brought out by the Centre for Gandhian Studies, Bangalore University.

As Dr H A Ranganath, Vice-Chancellor says, “Mahatma Gandhi stands out in the pages of history as a great example of spiritual strength. Through his life and teaching, he bears testimony to the values for which this country has stood for, since time immemorial.” And as he rightly adds, “this calendar is a reminder to us that Gandhian values are eternal and that they should embody the true spirit of a nation.” 

So as we turn the pages, we understand the person greatly revered by the likes of Martin Luther King and Einstein and unfortunately forgotten by a section of our own.

The calendar takes you on an odyssey with Gandhiji. In one photograph, you find him with the co-founders of Natal Indian Congress, Durban, 1895. It is difficult to spot Gandhiji in the one where he is in uniform with the Indian Ambulance Corps during the Boer War in South Africa, 1899-1900.

Go back to ‘The Salt March on 12 March 1930’ and you can see Gandhi setting out with 79 volunteers, representing India’s various regions and faiths including scholars, media representatives, weavers and untouchables. Gandhiji standing on the promenade deck of the SS Rajputana with fellow travellers shortly before his departure for England, Bombay, 29 August 1931 and greeting Londoners from the balcony of the residence at Kingsley Hall, September 1931 are all episodes truly rare and full of life.

Gandhiji’s sayings that hold great value are also imprinted in the calendar. Here are some of them: ‘The removal of untouchability is one of the highest expressions of ahimsa’. As many are aware, Thoreau’s writings on civil disobedience had greatly influenced Gandhiji.

On civil disobedience movement, the Mahatma says “the civil disobedience is the assertion of a right which law should give but which it denies.”  The calendar gives an opportunity to the younger generation to think about what civil disobedience is all about. Sadly, it took a Bollywood film to know who Gandhiji was for the youth.

Let’s look at some of the other pearls of wisdom which is worth more than a read: ‘I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill’; ‘Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes’.   `

As we go back to the photographs, there is a smiling Gandhiji distributing fruit to children at Juhu Beach, Bombay, May 1944. On woman power, the calendar reproduces what Gandhiji had to say, ‘if by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior’. On your August dateline, you see Gandhiji and Mahadeva Desai leaving Delhi Jail, October 1940. There is a mourning Gandhiji just after the earthquake in Bihar in March 1934. Come December, and you have Gandhiji’s funeral procession.

The Centre for Gandhian Studies’ unveiling the Mahatma in such an innovative way year after year could possibly help change Einstein’s quote on Mahatma which said “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”