I'm a day late in catching up with the Google doodle of Mahatma Gandhi to celebrate his 140th birthday.The Telegraph tells us:
It was rather cool on the one hand, and especially great to see Gandhi still recognised. On the other hand I'm not sure what I think about Gandhi being elevated to a design icon alongside Che, Mona Lisa and Marilyn Monroe. What do you think?As well as being celebrated in India as a national holiday known as "Gandhi Jayanti" – October 2 is marked around the world as International day of Non Violence.
Born on October 2 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is celebrated for his ideas on non violent passive resistance.
He is known around the world as the "Mahatma" from the Sanskrit word meaning "Great Soul".
In a tribute to mark the anniversary, Barack Obama praised Gandhi for his influence on modern America through his influence on figures including Martin Luther King the civil rights leader.
7 comments:
Sort of unrelated but last night I was looking into mixed race kids. And came across a wikipedia site about Ben Kingsley who of course played Gandhi. I was amazed to find out he is part Gujarati/ part a very european mix. And has a very indian name. But as he went into acting changed to the more European-palatable Ben Kingsley.
I wonder if his childhood and upbringing was brought to bear when he played the famous Mahatma?
Personally I prefer him in Dirty Sexy Beast where he is a plays a gangster. Its a nail biting,edge of seat performance.
Oh I forgot...Monica Ali was in the same list!
Yes it's often forgotten that Ben Kingsley is half Indian (drat, I'm being that character in 'Goodness Gracious Me' again...)- I don't know if he's done a biography yet, that would be an interesting read. He was brilliant in Gandhi but also, as you say, good in Dirty Sexy Beast, though I found it hard to take - Gandhi being such a baddie. Much in the same way that Robert Powell will always be Jesus for me!
Yes, and Monica Ali too - the 'mixed race' group is quite a growing demography apparently in GB; set to be a majority by some date soon or other. That will make the heads of Daily Mail readers explode. Goody.
Young Powell ...Jesus yes. Older Powell was that Detective for me. The one who played with Jasper Carrot (who's humour I enjoy).
Like you, I'd be interested in a auto bio of BK.
We've recorded the BBC2 show about Gandhi.Will hopefully get round to reading it soon.
We missed the Gandhi doc - must see if it's available 'on demand' (unlike 'Flashforward' which we couldn't find 'on demand' last night which was disappointing)
Which episode did you miss. You can watch it online here: http://demand.five.tv/Series.aspx?seasonBaseName=FlashForwardSeason1
Hey that's great. I didn't know about that site - thanks so much (we just have to make two hours to watch it now...and before tomorrow night's episode - god, the pressure)
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