A recent tribute to Nelson Mandela revealed lesser-known facts about the legend, like how many times he used to change his dresses in a day and that he was born as Rolihlahla, meaning troublemaker. Darpan Mago reports
In 1993, a white couple went to Bahamas on a leisure trip and had an amusing encounter. While taking a stroll they saw a black man and the husband exclaimed, “look that is Nelson Mandela!” He happily went and greeted Mandela, but his wife didn’t know who the old black man was. The wife turned to her husband and asked rather loudly, “Who is Mr MandelaIJ” Her question was loud enough to reach Mandela and the husband felt embarrassed. He said softly, “It’s Mr Mandela, the famous man right before us!” Not getting a satisfying response, the lady turned to the black man and asked, “What are you famous forIJ”
Mandela, who himself wrote this story has mentioned, “I could never answer her question”.
However, Rajiv Bhatia, director general of Indian Council of World Affairs shared a simple way to remember Nelson Mandela and his achievements at a memorial at Indian International Center. Addressing the hall packed with young people, he said, “A small talisman can be used to remember Madiba. There are four ‘S’ to never forget the legacy of Nelson Mandela. The first ‘S’ stands for special dream that he had for a free, just and democratic society in South Africa and the world at large. Second ‘S’ denotes selfless service for the entire mankind. As the leader spent 27 years of his life in jail suffering and sacrifice make up the third ‘S’, and lastly the fourth ‘S’ stands for the stardom that he got after a life long struggle.”
To celebrate 96th birthday of the global icon, hundreds of schools students gathered at the IIC auditorium recently. Mandela holds at least 215 major honours given by the world and that includes the Nobel Prize and the presidency, the first presidency of democratic South Africa. “Before actually receiving his Christian name, Mandela, he was born with a name ‘Rolihlahla’ and that nearly means a troublemaker in English language. With such a name, it seems as if the universe had already written his fate. Change is always inconvenient and the ones who attempt to break free are often termed as problem creators. He was a roadblock to all the oppressors,” said Ramesh Chand of Gandhi Peace Foundation. Suhas Borker, the convener of Working Group on Alternate Strategies was one of the organiser of this event.
The event had musical performances by the students. Indraprastha World School, Paschim Vihar presented a song Blowin In The Wind by Bob Dylan. Dheeraj Grover the music teacher of Indraprastha School said, “The song has a historic significance. Blowin In The Wind has been described as an anthem of civil rights movement in 1960s. In a documentary, it was said that people were astonished how a white man as Dylan could express the frustration and aspirations of black people so powerfully.” Bluebells School International, Kailash set up an exhibition of paintings on themes like world peace, equality and life of Nelson Mandela. “I tried to show equality through Mandela’s picture with scales. The equal range of white and black silhouettes on the balancing scale signify a sense of equality,” said Ria Manghani, a student. The choir group of the school also presented a rendition I See You In Me.
photos Sanjeev Kumar