In
today’s world, anything that we wish to be acquainted with, is available at the
click of a button. Especially if we are searching for knowledge….With just a
few clicks of the mouse or touches on the screen, or by typing on the keypad of
a cell phone, we can have information about anything. So, we are getting to
know everything without experiencing the subject. This tendency has led to the genesis
of a virtual generation that lacks senses. Nevertheless, being human, we definitely
experience sensations like sight, touch, hearing and taste, without our grey
matter processing the object of those sensations. Most of us don’t have the
time to feel our experiences. And the
fifth sense – ‘smell’ has become confined to the aroma of food, perfume and a few
unpleasant experiences only. We have given our soul to all sorts of gadgets,
from TV, laptop to cell phones or video games, so much that there is hardly any
time left for our brain to process basic human feelings. Our senses are highly ignored
in these times of high tech communications. That is killing the world we know.
Does
it mean that we have changed to such an extent that we have perceived the truth
in a different way? Don’t we need to be acquainted with the world the way we used
to know? Google anything: you have the information you want. Then save it in
your laptop or phone till you need it. Let gadgets feel it for you, what is the
need of something that is real like a book, or touch or eye contact?
A few years ago, I had paid a visit to a
village in Maharashtra and the aura of that village changed my perception.
The
name of this small village is Sevagram, situated near Wardha, a small town in Maharashtra.
People knew this village as Shegaon till a hundred years ago. Life here was
still, nothing happened, except the activities of daily living, reminiscent of village
life of a bygone era.
Where
morning turned into evening and evening into night seamlessly without incident,
without novelty…..day in and day out
Harsh
winter, Sprightly Spring, Scorching Summer, followed by Contemplative Autumn, the
cycle repeating with time.
This routine humdrum was halted by the
arrival of a Guest one fine morning in early April 1936. The Guest was one of
the most important persons of the country, who believed that the heart of India
lies in its villages. He called the villagers and sought their permission to
settle down there along with his wife only for company. He was 67 years old at
that time. In those days, the village was surrounded by forest on all sides.
There was only one footpath or cart track to Wardha. No post-office or
telegraph office existed. And there was utter confusion while receiving the
letters from the post office situated in Wardha. So, it was decided in 1940 to
name this village as SEVAGRAM or the “village of service.” However, slowly the pressure
of work on this person necessitated his asking for permission to accommodate more
co-workers in the village, till Sevagram Ashram also became a full-fledged
institution.
And in no time, this sleepy
little hamlet became the centre of India’s freedom movement. Independence was
achieved in 1947, and that man was assassinated the following year.
But, his philosophy inspires
everyone even today and Sevagram continues to function with that mindset. The
village became home to the first rural medical college in India, the Mahatma
Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences.
What is inspiring about this
village is that it has a medical College, an Engineering College, all the aspects
of (so called) modern technology, but it is still maintaining its ethos as a
small Indian Village…
….Where you can feel your
senses without any hindrance.
And what is more important
is that you can smell the place almost as it was about five decades ago.
While walking through Bapu
Kuti, I could smell the aroma in the atmosphere.
The dust, the air and the
stillness in the atmosphere convinced me that I could feel the man Named
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who lived here all those years ago.
Then I looked at one of his
quotes engraved, “Not mad rush, but undisturbed calmness brings wisdom.”
