"I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill one only finds that there are many more hills to climb." � Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela turned 91 today. There is no raucous celebration that continued till the end of last year for his ninetieth birthday. "Our focus is on 'a celebration of ideas', and while there will be shows and musical events, they too are aimed assisting our ongoing work in social justice work started by Madiba and the perpetuation of his ideals of freedom, non-racism and gender equality," the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a recent statement.

My friend Jan Hennop, Senior Journalist at Daily Dispatch writes in the Dispatch Blogs-

Fort Hare, Madiba�s old alma mater, together with the Nelson Mandela Institute are planning a week of celebration culminating in Mandela Day on Saturday, July 18.

�Mandela Day is an annual international day of action - not a holiday - in celebration of Nelson Mandela�s life and legacy, recognising that everyone has the power to change the world around them,� UFH said in a press release on Monday.

The Sunday Independent has informed that Carla Bruni has been persuaded to take to the stage for the first time since becoming France's First Lady and will be out in force tonight with Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys and a host of other stars to fete our planet's last living legend.

But even as Stevie Wonder sings Happy Birthday to the South African freedom revolutionary-turned icon of humility, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela will be safely tucked up in bed at his house in Houghton, Johannesburg.

"He is 91! He always has an early night, like anyone his age," said a spokeswoman for Mr Mandela's office. "The birthday will be the same as every year � strictly for family and comrades. He will stay home all day."

The New York concert at Radio City Music Hall marks the high point of Mandela Day, declared by 46664 � the charity named after his Robben Island prisoner number � and the Nelson Mandela Foundation to rally ordinary people all over the world to do voluntary work. In New York, the concept has taken off to such an extent that today marks the end of Mandela Volunteer

I am proud of the fact that I came from a country that had Gandhi and live in a country that has Mandela. My obsession with Nelson Mandela and the ANC goes back to 1973 when I participated with many others in the Gwalior Fair in India collecting signatures to free Mandela from the notorious Robben Island. A tiny gesture which must have been shared by millions of people like me from around the globe but it was the firebrand zeal of my teenage years embracing the left ideology that I enjoyed most, explaining to rural Indian people about Mandela and his movement while collecting their signatures.

During the same time, I became closely associated with Mossie Moolah, the African National Congress (ANC) Chief Representative in New Delhi and the communist movement in India. The cramped upstairs office at the Bhagat Singh Market then has given way now to a luxurious diplomatic mission in South Delhi. India was the first nation to recognise the African National Congress and the Palestine Liberation Organisation and elevate them to Diplomatic status. I remember The Pan African Congress (PAC) being disallowed by the then Indian Government to open its offices in New Delhi.

I came to Umtata in the former Transkei in 1991, travelling in a more or less clandestine manner. My Indian passport was stamped with �Not for travel to South Africa�, yet I remained exhilarated the most when the tiny Transkei Airways plane finally landed in a not so tiny airport of Umtata. At last I was on the South African soil. Apartheid was still there and we had to take permission from the so called authorities before leaving the African homeland and enter white South Africa for shopping or just for a stroll in the beach. Obviously we had to go to the sectors of Non White Beach. At times I just couldn�t control my laughter at all these antics but I have only arrived recently. To think of all those who have suffered humiliation for generations is itself a torture.

General Bantu Holomisa, a soft spoken army officer was the president of the former Transkei. He took special care of all the professionals that were recruited during his time. An easily accessible person he listened to any discontent from his fellow Transkeians and sorted them out immediately. The people of Transkei loved him dearly and elected him to the national parliament after Transkei ceased to exist. At present he is the leader of the United Democratic Party (UDM) and sits on the opposition benches in the parliament.

Nelson Mandela was released and the African National Congress went for a victorious mandate to form the government of a new South Africa. I remember that evening of the victory when even the late Joe Slovo was dancing with elected members of the parliament. Joe was diagnosed with cancer and was already very weak finally succumbing later to the deadly disease. Nelson Mandela�s jive became world famous, as are his lectures on freedom and democracy. This year he remarked that all these famous Nobel Prize winners come every year at his birthday to see that how this old looks at this age.

Qunu is a small rural village in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, 32 km south-west of Mthatha (Umtata) on the road between Butterworth and Mthatha. Mvezo on Mbashe River is near where Nelson Mandela was born, and Qunu is where he grew up and later retired after leaving office as South Africa's President in 1999. It is the village to which Nelson Mandela's father relocated after being deposed as Mvezo chief. In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela describes Qunu as where he spent the happiest moments of his childhood, diligently doing his herd-boy duties, playing in the river and sailing down the �Sliding Stone�.

Qunu today is a cluster of villages surrounded by open veld and rolling hills. The hills and valleys are covered with lush green grass and dotted with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats. A cock crow wakes up the community and at sunset the herdsmen bring the cattle to the Qunu River to drink, where the young Nelson enjoyed swimming and enriching his imagination with the games played at the riverbank.

Many years back, my friend, Balai Basu came to visit me in Umtata. He was an engineer at Chigutu in Zimbabwe. I have known him from my days in Zimbabwe where I use to work at the Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo. Balai da and his wife, my bowdi had come from Zimbabwe to see the new South Africa. One fine morning, having known from the Daily Dispatch that the President, Mr. Mandela would be spending the weekend at Qunu, he insisted that I should accompany him and his wife to visit the President. I was shocked at this preposterous idea of visiting the state President as if I was visiting an old friend. I refused point blank explaining to him that it is impossible to meet the President even from our own country, India. �I have heard of Mr. Mandela�s generosity and I am sure he wont mind me seeing him, he is not like other Presidents� he remarked. So off they went to Qunu without me, asking local people the way to Mr. Mandela�s house. I was in tenterhooks as they had not come back even after five hours. I was relieved to see them driving back without a police van in attendance and with a smile that stretched to a mile.

The story goes like this �

Balai da and his wife, armed with a video camera had finally reached the outer perimeter of his Qunu house when they were stopped by armed guards. Balaida tried to bluff his way in by saying �Please tell Mr. Mandela that his old friend, Basu has come from Kolkata�. He thought that he may confuse the special assistant by correlating to Jyoti Basu, the former chief minister of West Bengal who gave a rousing welcome to Nelson Mandela on his visit to the left stronghold of Calcutta. But unfortunately the special assistant had probably never heard of Jyoti Basu or diplomatic protocols never mentioned of the former Chief Minister�s visit to Qunu. He was asked to go back immediately or be arrested. Balaida and his wife were visibly down cast, trudged back to their car. It was just at that moment he heard Mr. Mandela calling them from his garden. He had come out for a walk in the garden when he saw this Indian couple being turned back by his guards. The security guards ran and effusively apologised to Balaida and brought them in the presence of Mr. Nelson Mandela with honour and respect. Mr. Mandela after hearing the introductions requested them to have breakfast with him. After the breakfast and the video filming were over, Balaida thanked the President and asked to be excused so that they can go back to Umtata. �Please stay for some more time, I want to introduce you to the local chiefs of our village� said Mr. Mandela. The Chiefs came after some time and each of them were introduced to Balaida as a special friend of the President who had come from far to meet him. As I saw the video at my home in Umtata, tears crept into my eyes; I was moved by this rare gesture of a rare human being.

The other incident that I remember is when we were taking a flight to Johannesburg from East London for our onward journey to India. Kaustav my son was one and a half years old. He suddenly developed this urgency to visit the loo at the airport. I carried him to the first floor loo but was not allowed to enter by a security guard standing at the doorway. Then suddenly the door opened and Mr. Mandela walked out. He saw me carrying baby Kaustav, came towards me and asked if he can hold the baby. I gave Kaustav to him and Mr. Mandela gave him a big kiss. Kaustav bawled and Mr. Mandela was baffled. �All children love me, what is the problem with him� he remarked. I bowed a little and told him that this boy needs to go to the loo in urgency. �Oh! Is that the problem, No wonder this poor boy is crying, lets get him into the loo immediately�. While still carrying my son, he asked for our introductions. �You have come from a great country to serve the poor in my home province� he said. I often tell my son that you were so fortunate to be carried by the greatest man, a living legend that this world has.

I have come to know from my friends that birthday celebrations are still continuing at his home in Qunu. I have this greatest impulse to drive down to his home and submerge myself in a frenzy of dance and music with the locals of Qunu, honouring the greatest leader, a human being who is one of its kinds at the moment.      

July 19, 2009

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