Kannada writers embrace Gandhian philosophy

A host of activities and functions have been planned as India launches a two-year celebration of Mahatma’s 150th birth anniversary. However, a section of Kannada writers want us to look past the photo ops.

Metrolife interacted with a few Kannada authors who have followed Gandhi’s work closely and have incorporated it in their writings and their life as well.

Manjunatha V M, a Bengaluru-based author, has been following and reading the works of both Gandhi and Ambedkar quite closely. “Both Gandhi and Ambedkar are relevant today. Their emphasis on honesty, tolerance and love should be emulated and followed by young Indians,” says Manjunatha.

Kannada author Suresh Nagalamadike feels that Gandhi holds the key to address the challenges of globalisation and postmodernism.

“Townships are cropping up everywhere; we are using our lands not for cultivation or agriculture but for commercial exploitation and business. Local industries are losing ground and there seems to be some sort of internal globalisation that is happening in Karnataka and across the country.”

Suresh points out that Gandhi’s stress on indigenous industries becomes important here. “We need to save local industries,” he opines. He observes an evidence of this in literature. “Some young writers are aware of this and it is evident in how they address Gandhi and Ambedkar in their work, especially poetry,” he adds. He adds that Gandhi is being viewed through the rubric of right and left on social media which needs to change.

Writer Seema Samatala, who has visited Gandhi’s ashram in Ahmedabad and the sites that marked his Dandi march, to gain a better understanding of the man and his relevance, says, “The more I read about Gandhi, the more I learned to embrace his virtues of tolerance, patience and honesty. I believe these are indispensable in today’s times,” she says.