Mahatma Gandhi in Belgrade - Lecture by Birad Rajaram Yajnik

Could not think of a better day to post this video, it’s about the day Belgrade, Serbia surprised me. 2500 Serbians attended my 90 minute lecture on Mahatma Gandhi at the Sava Centar. THANK YOU BELGRADE, THANK YOU SERBIA and THANK YOU AMBASSADOR CHAUHAN.

MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. DAY

15TH JANUARY
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

 

"To other countries, I may go as a tourist but to India I come as a pilgrim…
if this age is to survive, it must follow the way of love and nonviolence

that [Gandhi] so nobly illustrated in his life.“

 

 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
During his visit to India - Feb 1959

Bapu Pha digital exhibition in Thailand

His Excellency Gen. Tanasak Patimapragorn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdon of Thailand and Mr ANIL WADHWA SECRETARY (EAST) Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India with Birad Rajaram Yajnik at the Bapu Pha digital exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand

Mandela Gandhi Youth Summit

The Mandela Gandhi Youth Summit held on 19^th July 2014 had a multi prong impact in the Republic of South Africa.  The significance of the date ( 19^th July 2014 – a 100 years to the day when Mahatma Gandhi left the shores of South Africa) along with the location ( Constitution Hill, the current seat of the constitution of SA and a former prison that held Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela) carried a deep impact on all the stakeholders. The fact that the event was held during the Mandela week (the birthday week of Nelson Mandela) attracted the general public at large and also created a renewed interest in Mahatma Gandhi at the Government agency level. Officials of the Department of Arts and Culture, republic of South Africa and Constitution Hill publicly acknowledged the event. The Director General of the DAC in his opening remarks at the Festival of India made special mention of success of the Youth Festival.

The core target, groups of high school students were very perceptive to the interactive and multimedia format of the Youth Summit. Multiple short films with engagement build around them were a new format and caught the imagination of the youth. The fact that the granddaughter of Nelson Mandela and the Grandson of Walter Sisulu addressed the students further endorsed the engagement and interaction.  The spontaneous engagement between students from India and South Africa was the catalyst and multiple views were engaged ensuring a long lasting effect. The culminating collaborative art project of the World citizen passport ensured that the impact of this youth summit would be felt for a long period of time. The secondary influence the summit had on the teachers and parents of the attendees has to be noted.

The local media picked up the story and we have ensured that the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi is engrained in the most important week of South Africa i.e. Mandela Week. This summit can be replicated every year during Mandela Week to further the legacy of the Mahatma.

Mandela Gandhi - A digital exhibition by Birad Rajaram Yajnik

MANDELA GANDHI A legacy of peace, change and reconciliation (1869 – 2013)
DIGITAL EXHIBITION AND YOUTH SUMMIT

Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi lived in different times and faced different opponents, but both leaders changed the destiny of their people for the better. They personally acknowledge the presence of the other in spirit and culture. Nelson Mandela said – “The spirit of Gandhi may well be a key to human survival in the 21st century.” Mahatma Gandhi said: “It was after I went to South Africa that I became what I am now.”

The core of this exhibition is to present the similarities between the two leaders, trace their path and plot the trajectory. The viewer would be surprised at the number of times they run parallel. The times they intersect they are based on the situation of that time and region. The exhibition outlines the development of their moral fiber and how the core principals of leadership are the same between the two leaders.

An integral part of the exhibition will showcase Madiba’s connections with India, his visits and the emotional connect with the Indian people. It will outline his inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi and how the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence helped shape his own transformation and adoption of the values of peace and reconciliation.

The exhibition is in a digital engagement format and allows viewers to interact at various levels. Multi touch and gesture controlled interfaces allow presentation in the latest technologies enhancing the viewer experience. It is curated by Birad Rajaram Yajnik, author of the book – Peace Truth Ahimsa – a photo biography of Mahatma Gandhi. A special edition of this book was released at the United Nations in 2010 to mark the international day of Non Violence. He is also the curator for the first digital interactive museum on Mahatma Gandhi at Hyderabad, India.

The exhibition will be opened on the 18th of July 2014 on Mandela Day at the Constitution Hill. Juxtaposing on the 19th of July a Youth Summit would engage participants from 50 high schools on how the values of Mandela and Gandhi can be adopted in the 21st century.

The power to see the invisible.

Birad Yajnik: "I wish you all the power to see the invisible." Watch his TEDx Talk "Magic: The ability to see the invisible"

Where else can you cross paths with Mandela and Gandhi in one day? by Eric Itzkin

 

http://www.heritageportal.co.za/article/where-else-can-you-cross-paths-mandela-and-gandhi-one-day-eric-itzkin

Nelson Mandela - RIP

WHEN YOU ARE IN THE COMPANY OF GREATNESS SELDOM DOES A CONCRETE WALL FAIL TO INSPIRE YOU, I AM SURE THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD AGREE AFTER ALL THAT WAS ALL THAT SEPARATED MR MANDELA FROM HIS PEOPLE FOR  27 YEARS IN PRISON.

In May 2010, I was visiting South Africa to launch the Student version of my book – MKG – Peace Truth Ahimsa - A photo biography of Mahatma Gandhi. The book release was a part of marking the centenary of the Tolstoy Farm setup by Gandhiji near Johannesburg.

I took the opportunity to gift one of my limited editions to Mr Nelson Mandela, as I knew he was an ardent admirer of Gandhi. I corresponded with the Nelson Mandela foundation for an appointment. After a series of exchanges they informed me that it would not be possible to meet Mr Mandela, however the officials of the foundation would accept it in his behalf.

On that fateful day 26^th of May 2010 I reached the Nelson Mandela Foundation office in Houghton at 2.45pm for my meeting at 3 pm and was directed to the reception seating area.  At 2.55pm there was sudden excitement in the lobby and I could see officials quickly moving around.

Mr Verne S Harris came up to me and apologized that I would need to wait for another 30 minutes as something urgent has come up.  Then there was absolute silence …. I knew something special was happening.  20 minutes later everything was back to normal and Mr Harris came up to take me for my meeting with him and Mr Sello Hatang. They both informed me that Mr Mandela had come into the office to sign a special message hence my meeting had to be delayed by a few minutes. He was seated in the room next to the reception separated only by a concrete wall.

Views of a young man after visiting the Peace Truth Ahimsa Museum

I must admit that by the end the “Peace, Truth, and Ahimsa” session that I experienced today, I was overwhelmed with a sense of joy. ‘Joy’, not out of the information and moral values I garnered during my visit, but ‘joy’ because something ‘different’ was being done about ‘Mahatma Gandhi’. The idea of taking Gandhi as an ideology rather than a person of historic significance, was the underlying difference between Bapu Ghat “Gandhi Digital Museum” and the other Gandhi memorabilia I have witnessed. By the end of today’s session there were only three lessons to take back from this outstanding museum- ‘believe that you can and then you can’, ‘whatever the circumstances are, one must stand by their conscience’, and lastly, ‘think like Gandhi; think differently’.

The entire digital museum experience is coordinated exceptionally well. Every part of the experience was illustrated according to the level of the understanding of the audience. I witnessed the program along with a group of teenage students. Handling these reckless teenagers no doubt was an arduous task, yet the museum anchors successfully managed to titillate their curiosity time and again, throughout the entire session.

The introduction was close to perfect. The crux of this session was to place Gandhi in the context of the 21^st century and show the relevance his message has for all of us. Here I feel that it would be nice if the anchor calls a few members of the audience and asks them to narrate their personal interaction with Gandhi. This will enable the anchors to understand their audience better.

The yoga, meditation session should in my opinion be shortened to include Gandhi’s notions of “Karma yoga”; what he practiced in his life. For example it should include activities like sweeping the Bapu Ghat auditorium or washing plates after the sumptuous lunch (also a way of eliminating plastic from the meals). Gandhi Ji’s stress on physical work is something that should be considered to create an understanding of the Man himself. The meditation in this session can include the Tibetan Buddhist meditation on ‘equanimity’ for audiences of higher age groups.

The digital interaction is a masterpiece selection for school children. It is the perfect way to introduce Gandhi and learn about who he is. The selection of movies too is magnum opus. This selection aptly portrays what Gandhi wanted to tell all of us. The selected videos also stick in the mind and really manage to create an impact.

The finale though unexpected and different was not to my taste. Maybe this is because I have never found any fascination for motorcycles and such material things. But I think it works perfectly for the ‘ordinary’ human; it gives him the 21^st century “cool” symbol for peace. At the finale maybe the anchors can conduct a short discussion and a short reading session of Gandhi’s writings.

On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed my three four hour experience at the museum. I mentioned earlier, adding a few activities and including a session of active discussion would enhance the existing program.

 

- Soham

King Gandhi Wall

 

King Gandhi Wall  By  BIRAD RAJARAM YAJNIK

 

An interactive installation on M K Gandhi and his influence on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Location: Howard University, Washington DC, USA,

Over a 100 years ago (7th June 1893) at a small railway station in South Africa, a simple man the world calls Mahatma Gandhi was racially discriminated for the color of his skin. He spent that night in anger and introspection to create the most powerful weapon known to mankind – SATYAGRAHA (Truth Force). His philosophy of Peace, Truth and Ahimsa (Non-Violence) inspired Dr King to adapt it for the Civil Rights movement in the United States of America.

 

My inspiration to create an interactive image wall in honor of these two great leaders can be attributed to two statements: one by Dr Martin Luther King during his 1959 visit to India – “To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim”; and the other, “People who see the invisible can achieve the impossible.”  Dr King had the ability to see the invisible. He never had the opportunity to meet Gandhi, but the inspiration he drew from the life and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and adapted it for his people is a mark of greatness.

 

It is an honor to install this interactive KING – GANDHI wall at the Howard University in Washington. Students and visitors to this prestigious institution would have the ability to interact with images, QR codes on the wall via their mobile phones, tablets and smart devices to experience sights and sounds from the past. I hope this interaction empowers them with the ability to see the Invisible and aspiration to become the next King and Gandhi. The world today, needs them.

Howard University Press Release

 

Causing Change - One Student at a time

Two years ago the Tourism department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh provided us with an opportunity to cause change at a historic location in Hyderabad. Ashes (asthi) of the simple man, the world calls Mahatma were immersed here on the 12th of February 1948. ….

730 days later we present some photographs from our first step. The Peace Truth Ahimsa Museum at Bapu Ghat, Langar house in Hyderabad has successfully imparted over 30,000 hours of Gandhian inspired education.

 

 

I would like to thank every person who has supported us on this journey of change - The Tourism Department and the Government of AP, Principals & Teachers of schools and colleges in the city of Hyderabad, all the support staff, volunteers and instructors at the museum, finally all the students who have invested hours of integration and allowed us to learn more than just teach.

Birad Rajaram Yajnik