 Truth, Satya, implies love and firmness, Agraha, engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement Satya Agraha, that is to say, the force that is born of truth and love or non-violence and gave up the use of the phrase passive resistance in connection with it. So much so that even in English writing we often avoided it and used instead Satya Agraha. Gandhi was actually conferred the title of Mahatma by Rabindranath, right? And the word Mahatma in fact is a very lofty word because it just doesn't mean the great soul which is the ordinary English translation of Mahatma but it means someone who is enlightened and I think to go very early came to the realization that there was something exceptional about this man. In fact, when you call a person a Mahatma, in part what it means is you have taken him out of the fold of the family and placed him within the larger ambit of the citizenry of the country. It was said at that time, right, by people like Einstein and many others that Gandhi belongs to the ages, right, I mean not just to India, not just to the world but he belongs to the ages. Would you like to be like Gandhi? Maybe. I think it's very hard to be like he was. I think he was a great man and I think he taught many people to fight for their rights in a peaceful way and that's what we like so much about him. Do you think Gandhi is relevant in today's world? I think so because I feel that if I do something big one day, I will do it his way, his way of non-violence and I think that is the most intelligent and powerful way to guide the world. If Gandhi was alive today, how would you reinvent him to be more acceptable to the young generation? I don't think anybody would have required to reinvent Bapu because Bapu would have been reinventing himself periodically. The man who lived a life of experimentation would never have stagnated. So he would have reinvented himself as times changed. During the Satyagraha in South Africa, I had altered my style of dress so as to make it more in keeping with that of indentured labourers. And in England also, I adhered to the same style for indoor use. For landing in Bombay, I had a Katyawari suit of clothes consisting of a shirt, a dhoti, a cloak and a white scarf, all made of Indian milk cloth. Let's discuss what Gandhi is. So we'll do the brainstorming first. Yeah, we can do that. He said quit India because you know he would concentrate on these Indian business people like the Birla's, Tata's and the Bajaj, where he is, he has taken the term, quit India. So he said like quit India for the foreign investment and he could promote these Indian businessmen so that they can have their own economy. And he also did promote India. If you see India he promoted in his own way and the kadhi, the salt, it was just a business thing. It was purely business. If we see Gandhi, when he was in India, before he went to England, he was dressed as a traditional banyan, how they dressed, when he went to England to study there. He changed himself. He thought that you know the western people cannot accept him. So maybe he dressed accordingly so that he could at least say hi, hello to them. He underdressed because he had to appeal to masses and at that time, that particular time, the people, the masses consisted of poor and people who were underprivileged. So he had to be with them. Same philosophy we have put it in our design, the clothes that we have taken and the details we have put in. It has to appeal the masses yet it has to appeal masses as well as the classes we can say. So I don't want to kill the DNA of Gandhi's look, whether it's a watch or the glasses. We have given him the look of a business leader where it's more of a corporate look. The trouser is inspired by the dhoti. And I would dress up in a traveller's thing because he has to be a youth icon as well. We cannot forget youth at all. If we see the trousers, they are Jodhpuri trousers, Jodhpuri again it has a relation with royalty. And then I would also give him Apple iPad, tablet. Because he always used to carry Bhagavad Gita but now it can be an e-book to just go and sing with the youth. I believed at the time of which I am writing that in order to look civilised, our dress and manners has as far as possible to approximate to the European standard. Because I thought only thus could we have some influence. And without influence it would not be possible to serve the community. I therefore determined the style of dress for my wife and children. How could I like them to be known as Kathiawari banyas? The Parsees used to then be regarded as the most civilised people amongst Indians. And so when the complete European style seemed to be unsuited, we adopted the Parsees style. Accordingly my wife wore the Parseesari and the boys the Parsee coat and trousers. The Gandhi view is that there is an intrinsic relationship between your own body and the body politic. And the so-called inert world of nature outside. What he did in effect was to transform his own body into a complete ecosystem. And this is where you would have to look at how every little thing, you know, his enemas, his fasting, what he ate, what he didn't eat, what time he went to bed, what he wore. This is all part of what I call Gandhi's own ecosystem. Mr. Chohan, if Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, would he approve of your water business? Definitely not. And not only Mahatma Gandhi, I think it is way before him, the Banya community did not accept the concept of selling water. And water is something which you are supposed to give free and you have matka outside your house from where people can take water. And if you see that in 1949, where my father started the softening business, he was bombarded by a whole lot of his friends saying that a Banya, how can you be selling water? But to justify what I am trying to say is we are doing a good service to the community. One, for every 1 liter of water we use, we conserve 10 liters of water by way of water harvesting. Two, we give an employment of 5000 people. Three, if we can prevent you from getting sick for 15 rupees, will that not save you thousands of rupees of medical expense? The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but a loan from our children. So we have to hand over to them at least as it was handed over to us. Our country remains poor in wealth both materially and intellectually if it does not develop its handicrafts and its industries and lives a lazy parasitic life by importing all the manufactured articles from outside. There was a time when we manufactured almost all we wanted. The process is now reversed and we are dependent upon the outside world for most manufactured goods. We do not want to follow the frog in the well policy. Nor in seeming to be international, lose our roots. We cannot be international if we lose our individuality, that is nationality. I am a farmer. I am a graduate in agriculture. I am working for the National Agro-Foundation as a director. The greatest motivation is my personal satisfaction because as a farmer I have seen the darker side of farming or the problems of farming. But as an educated, the two in the agriculture based education, so I have seen the brighter side of the farming. So I thought I can make a proper blend of the technologies which can serve the farmers and that this foundation gives me a platform to actually share this with the farmers, fellow farmers for their betterment. So the personal satisfaction is that most motivation I have. One lead farmer learning it, doing it, showing it to others and then replicating to the fellow farmers. So that is the ultimate motive of our foundation, that is from the lead farmer to the lead village to the lead district. I had only the milk of the cow and the buffalo in mind when I took the vow. I had before me a picture of the wicked processes the cow herds adopted to extract the last drop of milk from their cows and buffaloes. Moreover, I had always held that milk is not the natural diet of man. He is our lead farmer, Raghupati is our lead farmer, I already told you know. So he takes the technology and then he uses that for the welfare of the community. And he is the motivator for this village. Actually he is a volunteer for this. He actually volunteers himself for this services for the betterment of his village. As a group in the village, they avail the loans from the banks for getting this cows. From the income generated from the milk, they repay their loans. You are a bachelor? Yes, I am a bachelor because I want to serve the service to the villages. If I am married fellow, it is not able to serve for the others. So not only that is the reason, but it is. You have got such a beautiful house. No, for you it may be a beautiful house. But in my view it is not a beautiful house. Because I also want to live in luxury. But I cannot live in luxury. Just like Chennai papers or incoming papers. Why are there no young people? They don't like living in villages? Yes, because here the earnings are too low. In Chennai, in industrial work, they earn per day 300 rupees. But here, although we work hard for 24 hours in agriculture, we cannot get 300 rupees per day. So we can average, we can buy 50 to 100 rupees. It is also not stable to us. So they want to migrate to the outer places. And they are going and earning money. Today Mr. Raghupati, if someone came and said, I give you a lot of money for your land, will you sell? No, we won't sell. Because it is our mother. Land is just like our mother. We cannot sell it. We will enjoy it still in future also. We will never sell it. So we want to live here, we want to earn here, we want to die here. What do you know about Mahatma Gandhi? He served for the nation without any expressions. He want to grow the villages. I know something about them. What about young people? Do they want to learn about Mahatma Gandhi? No, they don't want to learn. If we say them about Mahatma Gandhi, it is our ancient period. Now if we want the computer period, now we don't want to learn how to do it. Yes, some of them are saying. What is the aim of National Agro Foundation? My father called it as the Second Green Revolution, which he said the objective is to make sure that the migration should be stemmed. For that agriculture should be made viable so that we have no more slumps which is crowding over. Because there is less land available now for agriculture because you know the main reason according to me is the causes of the population pollution and poverty. And to overcome that Second Green Revolution came into this thing that is National Agro Foundation's role or objective is to make sure that the purchasing power of the farmers has to go up. Gandhiji and father, why I relate to them was they were all not looking at the next election. They were looking at the next generation. That's the most important thing, the next generation. Look at the future. Why should a man at the age of 90 when he starts the National Agro Foundation to bring about the Second Green Revolution he wanted to do more and more. And it's like a relay race. Somebody takes a bait and runs and it hands it over to the next person and that's how it should go on. In India, far too long we have built individuals. You have to build institutions. And it should be, you know, people should come and take over. I think that is all the, these are some of the learned essence of Gandhiji's teachings which are relevant even today. There is an art that kills and an art that gives life. The fine fabric that we import from the west or the far east has literally killed millions of our brothers and sisters and delivered thousands of our dear sisters to a life of shame. True art must be evidence of happiness, contentment and purity of its authors. And if you will have such art revived in our midst the use of khadi is obligatory on the best of you at the present moment. If India is to attain true freedom then sooner or later the fact must be recognized that people will have to live in villages not in towns in huts not in palaces. I do believe that the yarn we spin is capable of mending the broken warp and roof of our life. I want to be an engineer. Do you learn weaving? No ma'am. I can't because I know how tough it is. In previous days there is a lot of people are trying to do this thing. And in those days all are working together in urban areas. It's not possible to do this thing in the future I think. But don't you want to learn this art from your father? Yeah something I know. I don't know exactly full and fully. I don't like to know about it. My dad deserves it. It's end with me. No need for my son and my future generation. Four members mending. Rs.3,000 incoming. Gandhi was taught more or less at the suggestion of Mahatma Gandhi himself. See the history goes back to death of Kasturba. She died in 22nd February 1944. Soon after a Kasturba trust was created and Mahatma Gandhi himself was the chairman with Sarojini Noido as the treasurer. Even in those days they collected more than 1 crore. And then Gandhi decided that it should be given to responsible people in different states of the country to start some welfare activities for women and children. And one condition which Gandhi had put was that it should be at least 7 miles away from the nearest town. That way our founder Dr. Saundram who was personally known to him was selected as Prithinithi or agent for Tamil Nadu. She was a child widow. She was probably married when she was 9 or 10 and she became widow at the age of 12-13. What is your profit from Lijjath Papad? We provide employment opportunities from 67 to women and they earn a lot depending upon the input of labour. They may be making for Rs.1.50 to Rs.200 very easily. What are your future plans for the Gandhi Ground Trust? Future plans means first keeping the existing thing that itself is a challenge but future means because thanks we have got now 1,000 self-ful groups of women who think sky is not the limit they want to do many things. The Gandhi philosophy we are following. Basically every village should be self-sufficient. Employment opportunities should be created in the villages. Whatever we have is a replicable model of the village industry how it can be run successfully. We cannot go for a large scale. With many public institutions which I have managed it has become my firm conviction that institutions maintained on permanent funds are often found to ignore public opinion and are frequently responsible for acts contrary to it. It is the duty of a nature cure doctor not only to look after the body but also pay attention to and prescribe for the soul of the patient. Whatever the apparent cause of fever the real cause in every case is one and the same. That is accumulation of waste matter in the intestines. Science has not so far discovered any recipe for making the body immortal. Immortality is an attribute of the soul. I have made a loan from this. I have made a loan and I am doing well now. I cannot say how much a day I have received. If anyone comes I will get Rs. 2500 for Rs. 2000-3000. We will make a small bill so I will get Rs. 500. How do you know about Gandhi? We do not know about him. Gandhi Ram should not eat mutton and should not eat here. My ahimsa would not tolerate the idea of giving a free meal to a healthy person who has not worked for it in some honest way. A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us we are dependent on him. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so. Why do you buy food? There is no grain in the house. There is no grain. To my mind the life of a lamb is no less precious than being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by men from the cruelty of man. The idol in the temple is not God but since God resides in every atom he resides in an idol. God is an unchanging law normally by law we understand what is prescribed in the religious text but here what I am talking about is an eternal principle which does not change with change in circumstances. This is the truth and that is why I say that truth is God. I think Mahatma Gandhi is relevant in India today. If truth, love and peace and non-violence as a corollary or as the fountain of peace are important to civilization then he will always remain relevant because as he said in his own words truth, peace and non-violence were as old as the rivers and the mountains and he had not invented them and so as long as those are important for the existence of humanity he will always be relevant. I learned the true practice of law I had learned to find out the better side of human nature and to enter men's hearts I realized that the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties the lesson was so indelibly burnt into me that a large part of my time during the 20 years of my practice as a lawyer was occupied in bringing about private compromises of hundreds of cases I lost nothing thereby not even money certainly not my soul. The Delhi High Court in May 2006 inaugurated the mediation and conciliation centre Do you think it has been beneficial to client and lawyer both? It is beneficial to both it has brought about a change in the legal fraternity who is connected to the mediation centre it has brought about a sense within the a confidence sense within the a confidence sense it has brought about a sense within the confidence sense within the litigants that a lawyer can also be a felicitator to settle the matters it has also brought about a satisfaction with a litigant to say my case can be settled at an early date with the intervention of the lawyer You can't just say I'll return the principle or a minimal interest What is the mediator's fee? We are not paying him we are not compensating him for the time that he is putting in because most of us does this work pro bono The purpose is to change the image of the legal fraternity in the minds of people So the lawyers I would say if the clients are agreeable to 12% let's go with it But 12% only if he returns it in 6 months 18% even a day after that Mr. Mathur So hopefully now you had a good agreement and you will be able to take loan from me for your next one instead of going to court In your opinion was Gandhi a good lawyer I call him a good lawyer because as I said lawyer is a profession to ensure peace harmony goodness in the society and the fact that Gandhi Ji was able to do that I call him an excellent lawyer There is no such thing as Gandhiism and I do not want to leave any sect after me Was it that you wanted to pull my leg transporting me to the frozen Himalayan heights of Mahatmaship and claiming for yourself absolution from having to follow my precepts