W4 - GANDHI, MY FATHER

Being a father is not easy, especially when the father becomes a leader of a movement or leader of nation. This is the situation that have been faced by Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime. Gandhi, a father of 5 kids was surely having a hard time raising and supporting them in the hard time around 1920's. But, is it Gandhi's fault on his eldest son, Harilal tragic end? The answer is it's not Gandhi's fault.

It is true that Harilal and Gandhi were having a bit of misunderstanding on certain issues. For example, the scholarship issues. What Gandhi has do is surely wrong and destroying Harilal hopes for his future, to follow his father footsteps in becoming a barrister. Instead of giving the scholarship to Harilal, Gandhi gave it to his hopeless nephew and than to Sorabjee, a fanatic followers of him. This turns out very hurt and barely faced by Harilal because of trust develop by Gandhi towards his son. But, the main point is Gandhi wanted Harilal to be besides of him to face the difficulties and helps him in the effort of India independence. There is nothing wrong about Gandhi's attention at the first place.

Besides of that, Harilal's undetermined personality does affect his life. Harilal was indeed a supportive figure in his father's movement and became handy when it comes to the speeches. Harilal however oppose Gandhi's idea of peace and wanted to get free of his father's influence. He shouts out loud that he was a hopeless child of Gandhi and do not wanted to do anything with Gandhi anymore. Plus, all of Gandhi's money was completely wasted by Harilal when he failed in three times for a matriculation test for the barrister position.

Harilal's major fault in his life was taking alcohol as a reliever. It can be seen whether he is a Hindu or Muslim. Plus, he misused the hospitality of his Muslim brother, Zakaria-bhai. He constantly takes alcohol to get drunk and get laid with prostitute. It is not a great action taken by Harilal. As a punishment towards his wicked actions, he was imprisoned for disturbing a chariot that taken by British aristocrates.

Other than alcoholism, the pressure of the surroundings really affects Harilal's life. Harilal cannot take the pressure greatly and as a result, he finally wandering around the streets. This situation brings Harilal's great despair and contributes towards his failure in life, ends up in miserably ending. Harilal barely faced his wife, Gulab deaths. He seems to lost of his path of life and did not have any motivation to continue his life. After his mother death, he really cut of his motivation to life.

As a conclusion, Harilal's tragic end was not created by his father, but instead is by himself. Harilal must believe on what he is doing and do not take the alcohol as a reliever. Gandhi also must play a great roles in guide his eldest son towards a better life like him. Instead, Gandhi turns down all the hope for Harilal and blocks down his way in this life.

(The last picture of Harilal Gandhi)