Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar wrote: > New British history forgets Sir Winston Churchill, says > a news report. <snip> Mention the name 'Churchill' to most under 25's in the UK today and they think only of a dog that advertises insurance on Tv. Such is the way of life. Yours Aye Andrew Sellon A just and necessary war costs this country about one hundred pounds a minute; whipcord fifteen thousand pounds; red tape seven thousand pounds; lace for drummers and fifers, nineteen thousand pounds; a pension to one man who has broken his head at the Pole; to another who has shattered his leg on the Equator; subsidies to Persia; secret service money to Thibet; an annuity to Lady Henry Somebody and her seven daughters – the husband being shot at some place where we never ought to have had any soldiers at all. Rev. Sydney Smith 1771-1854, Canon of St. Paul's.

Andrew, This happens everywhere. Jawaharlal Nehru is almost forgotten in today's India. Many young people think that Indira Gandhi was Mahatma Gandhi's daughter! Yet a departure from this collective amnesia has recently brought Gandhi out of the shadows - and that through the unlikely route of Bollywood. 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai', a comedy starring the macho actor Sanjay Dutt has the hero, an underworld Don, triumph over his opponent. He does this through Satyagraha, taught to him by Gandhiji himself. (Gandhiji appears before him in person and only the Don can see and talk to him.) His reward is that he wins over his lady love, who is a true believer in Gandhian principles. This comedy was hugely successful and for a time Gandhiji's name was on everyone's lips. Since then, there has been a spate of movies with Gandhiji as a character. One of these was a serious and really good one called 'Gandhi, my father'. It is about the troubled life of one of Gandhiji's son, Harilal. He was a young man with normal ambitions to succeed in his life. Gandhi, the emerging leader of the masses, could not understand this and that gradually destroyed his son's life. He eventually became a cheat, a drunkard and even changed his religion for a while. All attempts of Gandhi to pull him back from the brink failed and Harilal died a destitute's death in a public hospital in Bombay, a few days after Gandhi's death. This is a little known but true story. Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, August 13, 2008.