Bengaluru: If not for the values he stood for and the causes he espoused, 
we Indians remember the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at least on occasions like the Independence Day, Republic Day, Martyrs’ Day and Gandhi Jayanti.
But for his lead in fighting for the freedom of the country, who knows, this subcontinent would still have remained a colony under Great Britain. Hence the Mahatma is being held in great esteem, awe and honour.
On the other hand, some unidentified thieves who broke into the office of the registrar of evaluation at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Jayanagar IX Block here last week appear to have realized his importance, by default though.
When the attender arrived to open the office the next morning, it was found that the miscreants had rummaged the whole place and looked for something valuable overnight.
The premises being a temple of education, there could not be much of cash there, and one can least expect gold ornaments.
What exactly they were looking for is not known. But, finally, maybe out of frustration over having drawn a blank, they found a single valuable item on the premises – a large photograph of Gandhiji.
Maybe if a picture or replica of the three celebrated monkeys depicting the ‘Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil’ ethos were to be there, even that would not have been spared. The registrar has now filed a complaint at the Tilak Nagar police station regarding the break-in.
After breaking the rules of personal integrity that the Mahatma stood for by thieving his own photograph, what could they be intending do with it back home?
It could be a tall order to expect them to put a garland around it, burn joss-sticks and sing either ‘Vaishnava Janato’ or ‘Raghupati Raghava Rajaram, Patita Pavana Sitaram, Ishwar Allah tero naam….’.
The sole thing we could do is sing in chorus, ‘Sabko sanmati de Bhagwan…’
The happiness of having read a well written article evaporated on thinking about the attitude of those breaking in and the thought of what might have happened to the portrait. Already the picture of ‘The Mahatma’ on a piece of legal tender is being talked about derogatively for no fault of his. God save his name and our plight.
A well written article. This is one more evidence that the Mahatma is loved by one and all, even by thieves!! Sab ko sanmati de bhagavan.
A well written article…It must have crossed the mind of the thief that the portrait is at a wrong place.
May be it will be put for better use by the thief, for inspiration and self motivation to do the right things in life.