Publicity Or Passion Or Patriotic ?
The Recent bidding by great industrialist Mr. Vijay Mallya having finally won the bid of our father of the nation-Gandhiji's memorabilia, most notabley the spectacles and watch for $1.8Million . Gandhi said his spectacles gave him "the vision to free India"and the watch which was given to him by Indira Gandhi. The plate and the bowl were the ones from which he took his last meal before he was murdered.
Gandhiji is said to have given these items to Raja of Junagarh
in 1930's before he had written his will.How these went there
in US is still unkown (or lets say I could not find it on net). But
the questions that I ask and would try to seek a clarifications
is why has Mr Mallya become an hero overnight , statement
like "Basically he was bidding for the country," said Tony Bedi,
who acted on behalf of Mallya to secure the revered
independence leader's round glasses, worn leather sandals,
pocket watch, plate and bowl.
My comments might be painful but lets admit it, the fact is that people
are just happy that the items are finally brought back to India and no one
cares for the fact that auction was primarily among Indians only, so the
belonging were bound to come to India and the auction by the liquor
King Vijay Mallya would probably hurt Gandhinan sentiments as Gandhi
advocated against liquor and now people see Vijay Mallya as a national
hero and would probably become a source of inspiration. Antiquorum
Auctioneers had set a reserve price between $20,000 (£14,000) and $30,000 but actual price went upto $1.8 Million fetching a whopping $296,000 (RS 1.53 crore) in commission, according to Antiquorum Auctioneers.That to me looks pure wastage of money which could have been spend on thousands of poors in India in improving their life's.
The Hindu March 7 page no. 13 reports that after the bid crossed $1 million mark, the contest essentially narrowed to Toney Bedi, representing Mr. Vijay Mallya and Arlan Ettionger, representing former Indian Cricketer Dilip Doshi who was interested in donating the items to Indian government.More over a group of NRI hoteliers had planned to bid for the items and gift the lot to India.The group led by hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal says they hope to win the five items - including the iconic steel-rimmed glasses and sandals that the Mahatma wore. This clearly suggest we need to rethink on certain core issues.
Mr Vijay Mallya has a passion of collecting Indian Artifacts and for that reason he can be said as patriotic but why did Mr Mallya bid this time as his name was never mentioned among those who might bid for the items? There is an answer for this as well, United Breweries Group Chairman Vijay Mallya had previously won the bid for the prized 42 inch sword wielded by 18th century warrior king Tipu Sultan costing 1.5 crores from Cristies in London but was unable to bring it back to India as the center refused waiver of duties on his acquisition even as he appealed to finance ministry the sword now has been lent to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Now this bid would provide him an opportunity to bring back that sword and saving him the duties. While money might not be a big deal for Mr. Mallya but the manner of auction and the passion to own the credi suggested it has been done more for publicity .
If you look at other endeavours which Mr Mallya has undertook, such as naming his Formula 1 team as Force India. Wherein he could have named his team after his Company and got lot of Advertisement, but he decided to have India in the name to serve his passion and earn applause from India.
Having said all this, I still cannot overrule, his passion infact hides a sense of patriotism in itself. The passion might be earning credit for himself and becoming a national icon, which he truly has become now but the passion does exist for India.
Link:Rightmarkets
Gandhiji is said to have given these items to Raja of Junagarh
in 1930's before he had written his will.How these went there
in US is still unkown (or lets say I could not find it on net). But
the questions that I ask and would try to seek a clarifications
is why has Mr Mallya become an hero overnight , statement
like "Basically he was bidding for the country," said Tony Bedi,
who acted on behalf of Mallya to secure the revered
independence leader's round glasses, worn leather sandals,
pocket watch, plate and bowl.
My comments might be painful but lets admit it, the fact is that people
are just happy that the items are finally brought back to India and no one
cares for the fact that auction was primarily among Indians only, so the
belonging were bound to come to India and the auction by the liquor
King Vijay Mallya would probably hurt Gandhinan sentiments as Gandhi
advocated against liquor and now people see Vijay Mallya as a national
hero and would probably become a source of inspiration. Antiquorum
Auctioneers had set a reserve price between $20,000 (£14,000) and $30,000 but actual price went upto $1.8 Million fetching a whopping $296,000 (RS 1.53 crore) in commission, according to Antiquorum Auctioneers.That to me looks pure wastage of money which could have been spend on thousands of poors in India in improving their life's.
The Hindu March 7 page no. 13 reports that after the bid crossed $1 million mark, the contest essentially narrowed to Toney Bedi, representing Mr. Vijay Mallya and Arlan Ettionger, representing former Indian Cricketer Dilip Doshi who was interested in donating the items to Indian government.More over a group of NRI hoteliers had planned to bid for the items and gift the lot to India.The group led by hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal says they hope to win the five items - including the iconic steel-rimmed glasses and sandals that the Mahatma wore. This clearly suggest we need to rethink on certain core issues.
Mr Vijay Mallya has a passion of collecting Indian Artifacts and for that reason he can be said as patriotic but why did Mr Mallya bid this time as his name was never mentioned among those who might bid for the items? There is an answer for this as well, United Breweries Group Chairman Vijay Mallya had previously won the bid for the prized 42 inch sword wielded by 18th century warrior king Tipu Sultan costing 1.5 crores from Cristies in London but was unable to bring it back to India as the center refused waiver of duties on his acquisition even as he appealed to finance ministry the sword now has been lent to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Now this bid would provide him an opportunity to bring back that sword and saving him the duties. While money might not be a big deal for Mr. Mallya but the manner of auction and the passion to own the credi suggested it has been done more for publicity .
If you look at other endeavours which Mr Mallya has undertook, such as naming his Formula 1 team as Force India. Wherein he could have named his team after his Company and got lot of Advertisement, but he decided to have India in the name to serve his passion and earn applause from India.
Having said all this, I still cannot overrule, his passion infact hides a sense of patriotism in itself. The passion might be earning credit for himself and becoming a national icon, which he truly has become now but the passion does exist for India.
Link:Rightmarkets
