Gandhi Peace Day Celebrated in South Florida, USA
September 30, 2018 in Davie, Florida
Hundreds of Gandhi’s admirers and observers gathered at the Gandhi Statue in the town of Davie,
Florida to hear the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Professor Rajmohan Gandhi. The Consul General
of India, Dr. Swati Vijay Kulkarni specially flew from Atlanta to attend this august gathering on
September 30, 2018.
Prof. Rajmohan Gandhi – Grandson of the Mahatma & C. Rajagopalachari attended the Gandhi Peace
Day in the Presence of Dr. Swati Kulkarni Consul General of India, Mayor Judy Paul of Davie,
Florida & hundreds of admirers.
The Statue was erected in 2012 and unveiled by Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam on
October 02.
As usual, any Gandhi program starts with Bhajans so was done at this event organized at the
Community Center at the site of the Statue. To show the well-deserved respect to Gandhi at the
standing only attendance people were there from all walks of life: representing from Kashmir to
Kerala and from Rajasthan to Bengal. Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Jews, the Whites,
the blacks and the Hispanics were all in attendance.
The weather was great in support of the event and speeches by the Consul General Dr. Kulkarni and
Professor Gandhi added immeasurably to the sanctity of the event. Dr. Kulkarni reminisced her
experiences while she was posted in South Africa and her visit to Mahatma’s old homes in Durban &
Johannesburg. Professor Rajmohan in addition to his scholarly discourse of more than 20 minutes
added a few remembrances of his childhood in the company of Bapu and Ba (Kasturba).
One of the anecdotes related to Mahatmas’ frugality. When Rajmohan was about 7 years old, he got
a new pair of eyeglasses and Gandhi Ji teased him about the new glasses. As normal, Rajmohan
politely protested by stating that he needed them because of his weak eyesight. Gandhi Ji responded
by saying: yes, you did need new lenses but not the new frame; old frame would have worked as well.
After the speeches, the gathering offered flowers to the Gandhi Statue followed by a sumptuous
lunch.
