#MondayMusings: How tall should a statue be?

There are some names from the Indian subcontinent that can never get eclipsed no matter the size of their statue

Five names come to mind. There’s the father of the nation to whom we are grateful for defining India as a nation that respects all religions equally. Gandhiji, and all the leaders he mentored and those who followed him, including Sardar Vallabhai Patel, ensured that India would adhere to secularism and respect all religions equally. Just because the pendulum swung one way and led to the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Gandhiji and the other leaders ensured that India did not react rashly by calling itself a Hindu republic. For this, we remain eternally grateful to Gandhiji.

As tall if not taller, is Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who emancipated and liberated Dalits in the truest way. Dalits who are born into the community of Mahars were considered ‘untouchables’ by other Hindu castes. Ambedkar, through his own genius and hard work, earned doctorates from Columbia university and the London school of economics. He returned to India and took a deep dive into national politics, giving voice to the most marginalised sections of society. More than anyone else, it was he who demonstrated the transformative liberating power of education and exhorted fellow Dalits to get their children educated and give the highest importance to education.

Mother Teresa found her god in the service of the poorest of the poor. The ones lying in the gutters of Calcutta, uncared for and unloved by the rest of society. She found solace and spiritual strength in nursing elderly destitute who had no one to look after them and inspired countless others to show compassion in their lives.

Swami Vivekananda through his short life of 39 years was the great modern saint of India who represented the confluence of spiritualism, science and development. He saw the strengths of eastern spiritualism and western science and strove throughout his life to harness the powers of these streams for the sake of development and uplift of the poor. It was Swami Vivekananda who famously urged Jamshetji Tata to finance and establish one of India’s finest institutions, the Indian institute of science at Bengaluru. Is education worth its name, asked Swamiji, if it “does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life; does not bring out the strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion…”

Another name, of the tallest people of this land which comes to mind, is that of the Buddha. He rebelled against the extreme religious dogma and orthodoxy of his times and asked people to go deep within to seek their god. The path to spiritualism was through meditation, said Buddha, asking his followers to discover this for themselves. Believe in what you experience yourself; not in what you are told, the Buddha said, and in the process gave birth to what is known as “the most scientific religion.”

So, tall statues no longer mean much in this day and age. What we need are tall achievements.

Gandhiji, Sardar Patel and other leaders of the freedom movement ensured that India would respect all religions equally.