Introducing Gandhi

Gandhi once said "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty".


Dear fellow explorers,


I hope that you have gathered your provisions and placed them in your favourite backpack, together with your camera and a little notebook and pen. I want to ask you to ready your imagination and set your mind's feet in motion. We are setting off on our voyage. Hop! I want you to walk with me to a little part of Barcelona called Poble Nou.


Its name means "new town", and it was for me when I moved here about one and a half years ago.
It is close to the coast, so if you want you can take your shoes off and walk lazily on the sand whilst listening to the little waves crashing, or take pictures of the high brick chimneys which illustrate its industrial past, or even have a well-deserved cup of coffee in the Rambla del Poble Nou, the main artery of strollers here. Because its citizens do love to stroll, sit at a terrace and have coffee, although not necessarily always in that order, and so do I. However, today I want to take you to a public garden.



Soon after moving to Poble Nou, on my daily way from the Metro station to home I noticed that there was a little statue in one of the public gardens I had to cross. It was a statue of a very short human being, almost unnoticeable under the shade of big trees, with no pedestal, standing at ground level, with a worn-out name engraved in the metal layer that served as its base. I was humbled to see that it was the statue of Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi. I tried to establish all sorts of connections... did Gandhi visit Barcelona before becoming the leader of India's fight for independence? No, not likely. Was there a group of his followers in Barcelona? An NGO in the neighbourhood? Had the Indian Embassy placed it there as a gift to the city? Even, was there a big Indian population in Barcelona? The answer to all these questions was "No". 


Time has passed since that first encounter and my life has gently settled here. I often pass through Gandhi's Gardens. His figure brings to my mind all the good in humanity, a sense of warmth, a renewed faith in people with abilities and minds far superior to mine but yet with powerfully pure intentions. It reminds me that humanity is an ocean. Let's swim...