Nurturing lives with narratives

Our growing up, specially schooling, introduces us to many concepts, principles, events, places and people.  A lot of learning in life happens in terms of various discoveries and events that have transformed human life, knowledge and created history.  But, we often miss out on the ‘narratives’; stories and underlying processes of ‘how’ these really happened - the various twists and turns, ups and downs, travails and tribulations, pulls and pushes, conflicts and challenges and how they were overcome.  The absence of these nuances makes a dry assimilation of facts that are uninteresting and boring.

An invitation to a conference about Sardar Patel, last year, made me get two books on him. The conference didn’t take place and I am yet to read the books!  This Thursday, which was Sardar’s birthday and a holiday, gave me a chance to understand him better.  As the family sat down for breakfast, I brought out the book titled India’s Iron Man by B. Krishna.   We decided to read out and relish some interesting nuggets and accounts from his life and the nation’s life. We read out a chapter titled ‘A mother to Gandhi’ wherein the tough, stern, granite-faced and hawk-eyed persona of the Sardar gives way to glimpses of a caring, warm, sensitive and devoted, ‘mother-like’ person, who could also humorously chaff and rebuke.  This was largely based on the sixteen months that Gandhi and Patel spent together at the Yeravda jail in 1932.  On being released from the jail, not unlike today’s tweeting or blogging, Gandhi wrote, “One of the greatest joys of my life was that I had an opportunity of staying in the prison with the Sardar…. His affection and love overwhelmed me and reminded me of my dear mother. I would never have imagined that he possessed such qualities of maternal affection.”

While Patel nursed Gandhi with loving care, he freely disagreed with some of his personal fads and some personal and political views.  This was a unique privilege that no other colleague possibly enjoyed. Gandhi, too, reciprocated with a matching open-heartedness. 

The interplay of humour was also very striking as Gandhi sarcastically referred to the upper hand that Sardar had in bantering by saying he had a ‘longer tongue than mine’!  Moving from the tongue to teeth, Sardar grumbled preparing the ‘Datan’ saying “Bapu has only a few teeth left; yet, he keeps on rubbing them!” 

Interestingly, Patel started learning Sanskrit at 57 and made ‘incredibly rapid progress’. This made Gandhi write, “Vallabhbhai is running with the speed of an Arab horse. The Sanskrit book seldom leaves his hands.”

One day while conversing, Gandhi asked his first and last disciple, “Under Swaraj, which portfolio should be allotted to you?” Patel answered, “A wandering minstrel”. At a time when people would even kill for ministerial berths, this gracious answer from the Iron man of India, who could have been India’s Prime Minister, teaches us a lot!   

This reading of about twenty minutes gave us great insight into fasting, Islamic education, feeding beggars, Charkha and the communal award. 

Finishing breakfast, we relished some beautiful moments and incidents of history.  As the newspapers narrate, our daily lives are punctuated with violence, problems and concerns.

Situations we encounter tend to disturb us and also push us towards frustration and depression. 

To draw strength and tide over challenges and conflicts, fortifying us with such ordinary yet inspiring instances from great lives is very important. 

As we celebrate Diwali over the next few days, along with sweets and gifts, can we read, narrate or share such incidents? Can we weave these into the partying, traveling and greeting? 

Similarly, if we can carve out little alcoves of time and space and nestle in them to read, share, reflect and relish narratives form the lives of great heroes, it would make life nicer, sweeter, greater and simpler.

Jayanti S Ravi
The author is a Harvard educated civil servant and writer, now working in the education sector