It's back in the news. Gandhi's sex life may be making rave news again with Jad Adams's biography of the Mahatma Gandhi : Naked Ambition.
Years ago, soon after I passed out of J school, I read Sudhir Kakar's Intimate Relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality where he analysed Gandhi's practice of sleeping naked with his woman disciples and likened it to a internal war against the most primal of human wants. Adams goes a step further in saying Gandhi may just not be celibate after all, however hard he tried to be.
Adams's introductory essay on the book Thrill of the chaste: The truth about Gandhi's sex life does not make me furious with a mission to salvage Gandhi's reputation as mahatma or Father of the Nation. Instead, it makes me cringe at the collective failure of this nation in selecting its role models.
While the jury is still out on the truth behind Gandhi's experiments with celibacy, my worries are related broadly to the idol-worship we engage in as a nation. Any sports person who can hit a ton in a cricket match is a demi-God; any spiritual guru who can deliver sermons on loudspeakers can never f*** women; any actor who can stammer on screen and yet walk away with the most beautiful girl in Timbuktu is infallible!
Gandhi is a different league altogether. He has been accorded the greatest respect ever in this nation. If Adams's story is even half-bit true, it's worrisome.
But my immediate concern is: Is Gandhi: Naked Ambition the next book to be burnt by zealots in this country?
Related:
Gandhi and Sexuality
Gandhi's Private Life
The Naked Mahatma
And, on a completely different note, read this funny piece on the Shoaib-Sania story:
Shoaib Malik: Love, allegations of sex, and dhoka
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2 comments:
As for Jad Adams, conjecture on controversial aspects, more so when weighed in with suspect sensibilities, is not just a surefire shot at fame as an author but an equally satisfying ego boost in achieving the 'downfall' of a 'god'. Adams qualifies for both.
Maybe this is simplistic, maybe it is not. Just saying.
If you sift through Adams' biodata on his site, he's made his living writing about decadence.
As for clay feet. Clay is only this deep, but prying fingers can dig even deeper. The thing is when mud is thrown, it invariably sticks!
Agree with you almost. As an afterthought, I actually thought his piece/book was kind of funny! I mean, he could be making conjectures without any substantial proof. You are right, and I agree.
But the deification of mortals in this country is too rampant to be taken lightly.
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