Rajaji's Speech

Three Speeches......and,RAJAJI's speech was last but not the least!
Three intellectuals from India, Benegal Shiva Rao, RR Diwakar and Rajaji travelled to the US to meet President Kennedy to urge him to adopt unilateral nuclear disarmament in 1962. They stopped over in London to meet Bertrand Russell, the apostle of the policy. They addressed Indian students at Indian YMCA in London on a Sunday.All of us naval officers under training at Royal Naval College, Greenwich, were directed by the Indian Naval Advisor at London to attend the lecture.
Suited and booted, Shiva Rao and Diwakar spoke impressively of their mission in clipped Oxbridge accents. They were followed by a nondescript looking old man Rajaji, clad in a Dhoti Kurta and wearing sandals. The audience, mostly from north India, thought they were in for a boring time.
Rajaji had a pronounced South Indian accent which did not add to his appeal. He started by saying "I am an old man nearing the end of his life. You are young people doing advanced studies in England. I was wondering what advice I could give you, when I found it plastered in billboards on London Roads. "Take Courage!" (These were advertisements for beer from the well known brewery Courage and Barclays!)"

The audience sat up.
He followed " I mean, take courage, not of the liquid variety but that which comes from within. Be bold in facing life's challenges." By then, he had the audience eating out of his hands. He spoke for forty minutes on nuclear disarmament and many other subjects. He then urged the students to return to India on completion of their studies. He was brilliant. We forgot Diwakar and Shiva Rao totally.
He ended with the advice " Never confuse comfort with happiness. Comfort comes from conveniences outside and would be available sooner or later in India also. It is external to your being. Happiness comes from your inner core and does not depend on material things around you. You may have comfort here but you will find happiness only in India. Come back and serve your motherland and live with your kith and kin."
When he finished there was a standing ovation. Every one of us was moved.
Substance always triumphs over form!

JAYASALA42