Scholar helps students find path of peace in their lives
By Josh Ray

Diversions Editor

Following the flag dedication ceremony on Wednesday, the audience gathered in Webster Hall Auditorium received an education on the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

Srimata Kamala, director of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Center, spoke about how Gandhi made peace a possibility in India years ago. While she did not go into much detail on his past, Kamala taught the nearly full room about how they, as individuals and human beings, could achieve peace. She said Gandhi was a normal person and peace started within one s own mind.

 Gandhi was no politician,  Kamala said.  Gandhi would have us know ourself. 

The crowd listened quietly as she went over some of the basic steps for keeping peace in individuals  lives. Being on time, she said, was one of the many ways to achieve that point.

For some of the students attending the seminar, Kamala left them wanting more. Melissa Durie, junior business management major, said she enjoyed the Gandhian Initiative, but she expected something else from it.

 I thought it was interesting,  Durie said.  It wasn t what I thought it was going to be. 

She said she was hoping Kamala would expand and talk more about the country of India rather than one aspect of it. Durie said the information presented could have been  more about India s culture as a whole. 

For other students, the seminar offered new ideas and possibilities. Marcella Yates, sophomore secondary education major, said she enjoyed the speech and thought Kamala proposed some interesting topics. She enjoyed the way Kamala gave examples of Gandhi s peace attempts.

 I thought it was neat how she didn t just give facts about the life of Gandhi,  Yates said.  She kind of changed it up by telling about some of the things he actually did for his people. 

One thing Kamala emphasized throughout the seminar was how Gandhi s actions were close to Jesus Christ s way of teaching. She also talked about how intelligent and close to his followers Gandhi was by talking about how Gandhi would actually learn many of the languages in India to teach to his followers.

 He wanted people to be educated in their own language,  Kamala said.

The next event in the India Semester will be a seminar on South Asian Islam and Indo-Persian Sufism. It will be held at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sept. 20 in Webster Hall Auditorium.

Andy Tevis/The Chart

Srimata Kamala plays her sitar for a classroom of music appreciation students aftr her seminar on the importance of peace. She has been playing the Indian instrument for 30 years.