Shot inside a tacky studio, the black and white photograph with two men dressed in loose-fitted casuals each spotting a prominent moustache and a bald head; could be anything but least impressive unless some chirpy birdie inform you ‘they’re couple’. A shrill passes through your veins and widened the iris to read through. (O! Yea…). The man on the left has his right foot angled above and slighted to other man’s feet. The burly man seated on the right has his toe arched to the angled feet. [I spotted…I spotted… I spotted…Yea!] Ain’t it another homoerotic fantasy? (Duh!)
The photograph would never had find its place in the history of mankind unless you’re been told – That’s Mahatma Gandhi with Herman Kallenbach. Salacious! A naughty smirk smoothens your facial muscle and you wink.
A revolutionary from the Asian peninsula, by his own right, who inspired the country of billions and many other nations to fight for independence lost his own to ‘Mahatma-ism’. Ah! It’s tough to be ‘God’ or ‘God-like’ coz’ you live with the fear of being crestfallen. The Gandhi, we know, is a victim of avatar-syndrome and remained controversial throughout his life and after. Torn between Puritans and Radicals – Gandhi remain as a subject to experiment for multifarious truth untold. Coincidentally, he himself has authored ‘My Experiments with Truth’ to flag. Do Gods or God-like men have sex?
Ssshhh…! Are you on weeds?
Heavens! Weeds were generously chewed by Lelyveld who in a high; was busy sniffing the stinking Gandhi’s loincloth that smelt of Her-man. Agree, ‘the white westerners has a morbid fascination for Gandhi’s sexuality’ but then, such a colorful personality who once lived in his see-through loincloth and traveled bare-chested and sleeping naked with 17-year old Manu (his great niece) and other young women, is enough to fuel the fascination. But…I’ve a question.
Gandhi wrote many letters which are studied by scholars to gain an insight to the mind of this ‘great man’ and contributed to cement his position as ‘Mahatma-to-the-world’. Many of these letters talk about his views on nakedness, sexual chastity, state of yogic self-control, strive for spiritual purity that the world has read and accepted hands-down. Then, why there’s a clamor when certain biographer’s extract shows him as ‘racist and homosexual’. What are we more concerned – Gandhi being ‘a racist’ or ‘a homosexual’?
I believe it’s the later one – homosexuality. It is the tabooed word, in a traditionally-thickened society that everyone practices, in their closet, but never agrees to the term. Whether blame it to the archaic rule sanctioned and imposed by the British Government OR the boxed Indian values that practiced as social customs – dual Indian values on homosexuality is an evident. So, the new biographer when reveal ‘a homosexual Gandhi’ – The Nation and those with a capacity for sane and logical thinking were hurt. Gandhi could be anything but never ‘homosexual’. (Ha! Ha!)
As a gay, I might be a depraved, immoral filth but the term ‘Upper House’ and ‘Lower House’ is evidently homoerotic signatures and quoted in Gandhi’s letter to Herman. So, he claimed to be the ‘giver’ while Herman though ‘macho’ receives. (Wink, wink!) Interestingly, a close scrutiny of rare footages makes me believe that ‘the great man’ is quite effeminate. Look at his sitting postures, feeble tone: and a quote from Manuben “…Gandhi as my new Mother”. My various escapades for sex with wild and robust men who claimed to be ‘Upper House’ show signs of effeminacies after years. Thus, they turn into ‘Lower House’ as they grow old. Similar resemblance can be found from Gandhi’s self-proclamation, “…by becoming a woman” as Bose written in his autobiography.
But, my intent to write this blog is NOT to assassinate the character of somebody who’s god-like, because irrespective of his flaws and follies, he remain a great inspirer to the world through non-violent practices. In simple terms, he’s indeed a great man but definitely not ‘a Mahatma’. The intent is to analyze the issue of ‘gay-ism’ in a society, where I live, after Article 377 has been castrated.
Whether, Gandhi nurses homosexual tendencies and prefer ‘men’ over ‘women’ in his personal life is strictly a private issue which needn’t be hurtful, if the society accept ‘homosexuality’ as a normal act. Except of the fact, we can’t beget but definitely ‘try it hard’. [Gosh!] Let, Gandhi be not judged for what he prefer rather accept him the way ‘he was’ because he ain’t a Mahatma but, ‘Father of the Nation’ deservingly. So, is homosexuality around you – accept it with no snigger or shame coz’ they are one among ‘you’.
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