Mahatma Gandhi’s 134th birth anniversary was celebrated on October 2 at the recently unveiled Mahatma Gandhi Community Center in Providence, Rhode Island. About 50 participants, ranging across all different age groups and races, paid homage to the Father of the Nation in a ceremony that was imbued with reverence, affection and tributes for that simple man who left such a deep imprint on mankind’s history.

Shree Rashmikant Acharya, age 90, was the Chief Guest of the event. Shree Acharya had the privilege of personally meeting Gandhiji on several occasions. Once when Gandhiji was in Bombay, Shree Acharya was part of Gandhiji’s security cordon and attended to Gandhiji’s various needs, including running errands for the Mahatma such as carrying notes to Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel. Shree Acharya recounted the deep impression that Gandhiji made on his life and on the life of every Indian. The whole nation was morally uplifted by the life of Mahatma Gandhi, he poignantly reminisced.

Dr. Bernard Lafayette, of the Center for Peace and Non-Violence at the University of Rhode Island, spoke about the global impact of Gandhiji’s life. Dr. Lafayette, an associate of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., recalled how deeply Dr. King had been affected by Gandhiji’s life. “I was inspired by Christ, but I learnt my methods from Gandhi,” Dr. King had once remarked. Recalling an incident from Columbia where he has worked to reform notorious criminals, Dr. Lafayette recalled the case of an extremely violent gang member who renounced violence completely after watching Sir Richard Attenborough’s famous movie, “Gandhi.”

Ms. Carol Bragg, peace & justice activist of Rhode Island, remarked that Gandhiji’s message of peace and non-violence was especially relevant today when the world was experiencing so much conflict. She emphasized that instead of worshipping Gandhiji, we must imbibe his teachings in our everyday life to fight against the forces of injustice, racism, and violence.

Vidushi Sumitra Guha, an acclaimed singer on All India Radio and national Doordarshan television in India, sang two Bhajans that were dearest to Gandhiji: Vaishnav Jan and Raghu Pati Raghav. Shree Acharya remarked that the Bhajans, sung with such deep emotion and spirituality, transported him in time to the days when he had attended Gandhiji’s prayer meetings.

The participants were moved by a beautiful power-point presentation on Gandhiji’s life. And a special treat for the audience was a rare, entirely fascinating, recording of Gandhiji’s own voice. Few participants had heard Gandhiji’s voice with such crystal clarity before.

By their enthusiastic participation in the event, the local children clearly demonstrated that Gandhiji’s life, even though separated by time and distance, continues to have a tremendous impact on the new generation. Ruchir Shah, age 12, said, in a power-point presentation he had specially made for the occasion, that reading Gandhiji’s Autobiography, My Experiments With Truth,” changed his life.

Gandhiji also made a brief cameo appearance in the form of Utkarsh Shah, age 10, who came dressed and made up as Gandhiji. Utkarsh read an interesting episode from Gandhiji’s life, which demonstrated Gandhiji’s famous humility as well as his emphasis on punctuality.

Six children (Krishna Sampada Velury, Rashi Gupta, Dhruv Jain, Nupur Jain, Priya Ghosh, and Priyanka Sundar) sang a melodious song entitled Hum Honge Kamyab, which is a translation of the famous song from the 1960s, We Shall Overcome.

Gunjan Gupta and Rashi Gupta did a beautiful rendition of Raghu Pati Raghav, in which the entire audience joined in spontaneously. An essay on Gandhiji written by young Indu Ohri was read.

In closing, tributes were paid to Gandhiji, recalling Albert Einstein’s famous words: “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” Also recalled were Lord Mountbatten’s equally famous words: “Gandhi will go down in history on a par with Buddha and Christ.”

Dr. Amrut Patel, one of the organizers of the event, remarked: “Gandhiji’s life was a powerful message to all of mankind. Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary is an appropriate occasion for us to remember Gandhiji and his contributions to the world. It is especially gratifying to see that Gandhiji’s message resonates not only with people of all races and colors, but even with the second generation of Indian Americans, who are clearly inspired by Gandhiji.”

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