Gandhi who ?

"There is always a shadow under a lamp that lights a path. " The light has no intention to cast a shadow but it cannot help but be the very cause of that patch of darkness; a darkness so gloomy and lifeless that even that speck of light is threatened to be engulfed by it. Harilal Gandhi ? Do you know him ? No ? It is alright. What about Harilal Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ? Well, he had the misfortune of being the eldest son of the "Father of our nation" ; a relationship that was not more real than the relationship between the sun and the stars. Ideals, principles and harsh discipline was the image young Harilal had of his father. He knew that he was the son of a most extraordinary man and felt great responsibility about this fact. Following his father's footsteps he dreamt of becoming a Barrister and serve his country. But Bapu as he fondly called him had thought otherwise. He despised the British education system and thought that Hari would learn more staying with him in Phoenix Farm in South Africa. He had forgotten that the same education system had produced himself, the leader of the people. Hari could not understand and neither can I, how could an illiterate person serve his country and fight for his rights, when he did not even know what his rights were. Differences prevailed between father and son, and Hari left for India to is wife and children, to start a new life. But people used him and his famous name for making money and left him destitute and frustrated. Liquor became his only solace. He tried to keep a number of different jobs but his name came as an obstacle. People denied to give him menial jobs because he was the son of Gandhi and he was not qualified for higher jobs. This aggravated his frustration and he stuck to his addictions. Religious activists also used him. He was converted to Islam with the name Abdullah. But again converted back to Hinduism. The shadow of the Mahatma followed him wherever he went and ultimately consumed him. The Mahatma failed to convince his own blood, the same blood which he claimed to be his own, never realising the fact. Five months after he died, Harilal died in oblivion in a hospital in Mumbai on the 18th of June, 1948. The question is still there. Who was the real Gandhi, the Father of the nation or the father of Harilal ? We will never know.