Hind Swaraj

History is something which always intrigues me. How would things have been in the past. What made Mr.XYZ to take this or that decision. If he or she would not have done this or that, then what would have happened to us. Well... there are many questions in this world without any proper answer.

After hearing again and again from one of my friends about this title (Hing Swaraj) by M.K. Gandhi, I decided to run a google search on the web for this book. Luckily I got a PDF version of the book over Internet. That evening found me reading through the pages of the book.

First thing that astonished me was the date of publication, 1908. And the second thing to astonish me was the style of writing of Gandhi. It was odd and can in no words be termed as interesting. But still, there were certain discoveries that I made through the pages, which made me to trade further.

• First of all, the idea Gandhi had about Swaraj (or freedom) was completely different from what we have got in India now. This implies two possibilities. Either he was overly hypocritical (which I wont accept); or his figure was exploited by the rest of the Congress leaders to accomplish whatever they deemed to be correct.
• He talks many things which may sense null in today's context. Like he shuns railways, the profession of doctors and lawyers etc. In short he shuns almost everything that is adapted form west. In today's world, can we live a life without the western discoveries? I dont know. May be once a year, we can try to live like that for a month or so and try to observe how easy it is or otherwise.

Lastly, he raises two major questions which left me thinking. First of all, if we have a British system, a British governance and a British law without the Brits, can we still claim ourselves as independent? Secondly, if somebody else has fought independence for me, how can that be my independence? Hence unless and otherwise I find my own independence, I will still remain "parAdhin".