New-age ways to flaunt Gandhigiri

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Following Mahatma Gandhi is not just about espousing honesty, non-violence, turning vegetarian or spinning yarn for GenY. They rather prefer to follow him on twitter, update his Facebook pages, flaunt Gandhi’s famous quotes and photos on their T-shirt, wear round-framed spectacles, simple chappals and khadi kurtas to make a no-nonsense and intellectual statement.

“Our generation neither saw the freedom struggle nor the atrocities of British rule. However, we do realise that Gandhi’s principles are still valuable and relevant. He had a very influential personality that continues to inspire us. And I love to wear khadi kurta and dhoti to flaunt my beliefs inspired by Mahatma Gandhi,” says Akshay Tomar, area manager at Cocoberry. There are many like Akshay, who aspire to make a statement by flaunting Gandhi T-shirts, chappals and spectacles.
Every Gandhi Jayanti witnesses about 80 per cent surge in sales of T-shirts with Gandhi quotes and photos, says Mahendra Kulyal, manager at Tantra store at Saket. “Presently, we are selling about 15 T-shirts with Gandhi quotes and photos everyday. In last three years the sales of these T-shirts during Gandhi Jayanti have almost doubled,” he adds.
With increasing sense of wanting justice and anti-corruption mood in the country youngsters are also trying to look for a figure they can get some inspiration from, says Anashuya Gupta from Miranda House, Delhi University. “And who can be a better motivation than Gandhi? Many of my friends have been inspired by him and trying to follow his footsteps. We all follow him on twitter and FB,” says Anashuya. No wonder, the FB page on Gandhi, run by techie Vijay Bhasker, has more than 43,000 likes. Not just Indians, but NRIs and many foreigners are also a part of this long list.
Anashuya and her friends also have round-framed spectacles that they like to wear to attest their liking for Mahatma Gandhi. The round-framed spectacles have always been a favourite among youth, says Mankesh Kumar, manager at Vision Express Opticals store at Lajpat Nagar. “It’s a style statement for college students and never goes out of fashion. About two months back these spectacles were a huge craze in colleges when we were selling about 25 pieces every month,” says Mankesh.