Book Review – Bapu Kuti: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi, Rajni Bakshi

Ever since I first saw the Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Swades’ and happened to come across the title of this book in the web as one of the sources of inspiration for the film, I was bent on reading it. Years later, with the help of Page99.com website, I could lay my hands on the book. And, the book has lived up to my expectations and eagerness!

All of us know that this country suffers from a lot of malaises. Each and every one of us can list out a myriad things that are not right with this country. But when it comes to girding the loins and getting our sleeves dirty with the efforts to bring about a change, few of us pass muster. And this book lists a lot of names that have actually started making attempts without just stopping at raising voices.

An IAS officer (Aruna Roy) that took to working in the villages and protecting the interests of the marginal labourers – and whose fight has culminated in bringing the RTI act for the common welfare, academicians and scientists (Karunakaran T & Seshadri C V) who want to bring the benefits of science and technology to the rural masses while working towards goals of sustainable development, an aging artisan (Ravindra Sharma) that is really striving hard to protect the dying crafts that are the colorful threads in this country’s tapestry, a group of friends that are trying to protect the holy rivers of the country from turning into huge channels of sewer (Ganga Mukthi Aandolan and Narmada Bachao Aandolan), people that really believe that the soul of this country is only in the rural areas and many such people who have stopped waiting for the government to do ‘something’ and rather started doing whatever little they can do on their limited own.

The book takes us on a journey across South and Central India, from Devdoongiri to remote hamlets of Andhra to Madurai to Chennai to Madhyapradesh to Gujarat or wherever else these warriors are silently toiling to bring about positive social changes that can spell real progress.

On the verge of forming a charitable trust myself, I found this book to be of great inspiration and guidance. The basic lesson that I have managed to learn from this book is that anybody can raise their voice, cribbing and complaining about all those things that are wrong with this country. But it takes nothing special to start changing whatever little we can, wherever we are.

Overall, an inspiring work by Rajni Bakshi that can prove to even the worst of Gandhi’s detractors as to why and how Gandhi becomes all the more relevant amidst the mounting chaos and mayhem of liberalization, industrialization, privatization and globalization!