 George Washington vs Mahatma Gandhi

Indians have a very different sense of history than Americans. Of course they do… for one, it’s a longer history. I can walk down the street from my hotel and see buildings that are 100, 200, or even temples 500+ years old that are still inhabited and in use today.

When we went to Tipu Sultan’s summer palace, there was a museum inside with displays and discussions of the battles between the British and India. There were British tourists there, and one of my friends explained to me that that is common, as it is there history too. What surprised me was that the battles being discussed took place in the early 1800s, and the British generals they were talking about were the same generals that had recently lost to George Washington during the American Revolution. Apparently they came to India to take out their frustration. It amazed me how all things are interconnected, even back then, on a global scale. As they used to say, the sun never sets on the British empire.
The founding father of this nation was Mahatma Gadhi. His face is on all of the paper currency, and his image is painted everywhere. I had to reflect on how our nation was founded in war, and we look up to General George Washington, whereas they admire and strive to emulate one of the greatest pacificts of all time, who led a non-violent revolution against the exact same colonial power that we fought.

Of course my twisted adolescent mind had to imagine the old Celebrity Death Match from MTV in the late 80s where claymation celebrities would duke it out. George Washington vs Mahatma Gandhi anyone? I can totally picture it…