The Inconsequential One Man

"One man alone cannot make a difference. " his friends warned him.
He smiled, determined to prove them wrong. This one man was an NRI - a non-resident Indian - who found himself disillusioned with the ruling government of his home country. Angry with the way they were treating his fellow Indians, he chose to return back to India and take on the system. He wanted to ensure that every Indian was treated equally and given their rights, something that he felt was not happening.
One man could make a difference and kick-start a revolution, he believed.

He found the land he returned to far more complex than the white and black image of right and wrong he had envisioned. His efforts to point out the flaws of the ruling government were mocked not just by the leaders but even by his fellow Indians who were loyal to the government. He tried to engage them in a debate but found no takers, people choosing to insult and accuse instead.

They questioned the sincerity and motives behind his effort.
They trolled him in newspaper articles and social media, asking him why he had sat cozily abroad when other events of differential treatment had taken place earlier in India.
They dragged out every photo from his past, analyzing every tilt of his body in each frame.
Neither his old fashioned dressing sense nor his crinkly features were spared as caricatures painted him a buffoon and a cheat.
If you don't like it here, get lost, they told him.

Ripped apart from within without ever a single physical blow landing upon his person, this disillusioned One Man gave up the dream of being a voice of change within his country.

He packed his bags and left the land of his birth, choosing to lead an inconsequential life abroad practicing law. He became a husband and later on a father too to two young boys.
But he did not become the father of the nation. Because Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi made no difference to India. He was noone.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was noone.
And India never knew what it lost as it stayed loyal to the British government that ruled it.

Authors note -
The prompt of "One" by Blog-a-rhythm got me thinking of power and how different things could be if power did not originate from the source we are familiar with. 
In an alternate timeline, if an NRI who dressed in unusual attire and had in his Facebook & Twitter friends list, anarchists and men who had been imprisoned for going against the government, were to return today to India and try to be a voice of change against what he felt were flawed national policies, would you stand by him?
Or would you retweet the caricatures and mock him?
Do you think a Gandhi of 2015 could survive the battle of social media, armed only with his convictions? Would you see such a man as a voice of change or ridicule? 


Epilogue:

"Damn that Yorkshireman, Grandpa! Look at how confident he is. He is the only one capable of winning it for England."
As he sat with his grandchildren in Cape Town, Mohandas watched the shaggy haired new English batting sensation hammer his home team's best bowler Alan 'White Lightning' Donald through the covers. A queer expression appeared on his face as he shook his head and perhaps it was the sun shining brightly down upon them but for a brief moment, it almost looked to the elder child as though their grandfather was going to cry. When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi finally spoke, his old voice trembled.

"No, my child. This Tendulkar chap can threaten us but he cannot win it for England. As my friends warned me a long time ago, one man alone cannot make a difference."