“Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world, but change ourselves,” …… Mahatma Gandhi.

And as the nation went on a cleaning spree yesterday, with most everyone taking a broom and sweeping beaches, grounds, and everywhere where the lens of the camera could reach, I imagined I saw a small man with horn rimmed glasses, covered with just a khadi cloth, watching everybody, “Looks like a cleanliness drive on my birthday,” he said.

“Yes,” I said, as I watched a road filled with garbage being broomed, and immediately housewives emptying more garbage on the same spot just cleaned, “Yes, we are trying to clean the nation!”

“It’s not working,” said the birthday celebrant, as a scooterist dumped his household garbage on the same road and sped away.

“It’s a symbolic act!” I said in defence.

“A meaningless one, unless you clean the right spot!” said the Father of the Nation emphatically to me.

“Right spot?” I asked, looking at brooms, brushes, garbage cleaners and also the ones, dirtying the places, “What right spot sir?”

“The spot within yourself,” said the Mahatma patiently, “because what you people are trying with broom and brush is to change the outside world, whereas what you need to change is the muck that resides inside you!”

“You once said,” I said, “That our greatest ability as humans is,”

“Yes, yes,” I know what I once said,” said the great Mahatma, “But let me put it even better, in context with this great cleaning spree the nation is doing.”

“Yes,” I said, pulling out a pen and paper.

“Our greatest ability as humans is not to clean or broom the country, but to start cleaning ourselves!”

I wrote the great words down, as the birthday boy continued, “When we clean our hearts and minds, when we can make our violent minds non-violent…”

“Like you taught the nation and the world and got our freedom,” I interrupted eagerly,

“Yes,” said the Mahatma simply, “When we can change ourselves inwardly, from playing politics with people’s lives, from using the way a man worships God to make him or her the focus of hate, when we can be at peace within ourselves, and stop creating division between citizens, then and then only should we take broom and brush and start doing these ‘outside ourselves’ activities!”

Yes dear reader, mine, may be a fictitious conversation, but the words are not those from my imagination, but those the Father of the Nation actually uttered. Even as we do these symbolic acts of broom and hugs, let’s first begin as a nation to purge the hate and anger inside ourselves, so that the brooming and hugging spring out from our ‘greatest ability’ as Gandhiji said, to ‘change ourselves’…!