Gandhi acknowledges the Power of Objects

Not THE Gandhi, who had a real thing against the material world (no sex! no food! no clothes!), but a subsequent generation. The few belongings left from the iconic Indian leader are up for auction, including his wire-rimmed glasses, pocket watch, and sandals.

"These objects are very close identities of someone we call the 'Father of the Nation'," said Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. "We have to bring them back."

When asked whether it was missing the whole Gandhi Point to worry over the disposition of mere objects, he replies:

"We as people, we love to identify with objects. We love to associate ourselves by looking at those objects with great detail."

I agree. Human beings are terrific magpies of symbology and superstition. We are wired to not only see, hear and pick up all kinds of stuff, but to then think hard about it and make connections (real or imagined). From saint's relics to vintage cars to kung-fu belts to baby teeth, we imbue objects with metaphysical properties that radiate and make us feel special for being around them. How else to explain that classic Antiques Roadshow moment when one learns that the family highboy would have been worth $100,000 more if it still had the original gunky oxidized lead paint on it? That paint has 200 years of freakin' MOJO!

Even the most mundane objects can attain this status. Children are universally mad for collecting rocks, which serve no practical function but can never be disposed of. The must-have holiday toy/clothes/notebook/gadget is another example of our strange propensity to project our own needs onto poor, unsuspecting, insentient matter. The fact that the magic dissipates so quickly in these cases doesn't diminish the importance, it just demonstrates an artifact of our current culture. At the moment, we humans have a crush on the ephemeral.

Anywho, the Indian government is now stepping in to attempt to halt the sale of Gandhi's possessions (although as of now the items are still listed at the March 4 & 5 auction). I am rooting for them. There are times when irony is not good, clever, or funny, and this would be one of them.