Of Forgiveness, Priyanka Gandhi and Confusion

Recently Priyanka Gandhi appeared in a television interview with Barkha Dutt on NDTV. Upon being asked if she really held no grudges against Nalini for killing her father, Priyanka gave an answer that set me thinking. The straight forwardness of the reply struck me.

Priyanka said that she had been “furious” with the world for a year after Rajiv’s assassination. However now she has forgiven Nalini. She said that the realization that Nalini herself was a victim of circustances had brought about this change in her. As she realized that Nalini too was a victim and that she herself had suffered a lot, Priyanka’s own victimhood had disappeared. She said in a way both of them were victims. The absence of the feeling of victimhood had allowed her to be non judgemental. According to her, the disappearance of victimhood was real non violence, true to the sense in which Mahatma Gandhi had espoused non violence.

I must say I was very impressed with her reply and something in her mannerisms told me that she was being totally honest when she said these things.

Yesterday one of my batchmates died because of a sudden heart attack. I wasn’t particularly close to him and throughout our college life we had mostly disagreed with each other on all kinds of petty and important things. However, yesterday as the news was broken to me, I had a sudden rush of nostalgia and there was a certain fondness in the way I thought about him. Somehow I had stopped being the victim of his designs. This feeling of warmth for him took me by surprise and even made me nervous. Maybe Priyanka’s words had made the difference or I was just giving him the dignity and the respect that the departed deserve.

I have a friend who despite being in the same city didn’t visit the departed soul for the last time. His reason was a simple one “Why revive a relation now that wasn’t revived when he was alive?” . He clearly hadn’t forgotten the unpleasant excahnges he had suffered with the departed. And I must say that the departed had indeed been at fault back then.

Would I be just as willing to forgive Kasab just as I had forgotten the deeds of my departed batchmate? Ofcourse my batchmate wasn’t a terrorist but there had been a lot of bitterness amongst us. And bitterness is what I feel for Kasab. It will be easy to establish Kasab a victim of circumstances . Why is it then that I want to see Kasab punished for what he has done.?He hasn’t expressed any remorse for his deeds but neither had the departed one done so. Why am I not able to treat Kasab with the same sympathy as I treated the departed with? Afterall I did the loathe the departed soul with passion. That is my confusion.

2 comments to Of Forgiveness, Priyanka Gandhi and Confusion

  • Abhigya  says:

    hmmmm thanks bhai

  • shastha  says:

    Sahi likha hai bhai.

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