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"Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves."
- Cassius in Julius Caesar (I,ii,136–38): William Shakespeare.
Contents :
Barua ya Nelson Mandela kwa Mama Manorama Bhalla, Secretary ya Indian Council for Cultural Relations. |
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Barua ya Nelson Mandela -Kiswahili version.
Robben Island,
7400 Republic of South Africa
3 August 1980
Mpendwa Mama Bhalla,
Ninaandika kusema maono yango manyofu na kutoa mashukrani kwa Indian Council for Cultural Relations kuniheshimu na zawadi ya "Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding" 1979 . Hata kama nimechaguliwa kupokea tuzo hiyo nafahamu kwamba mimi ni chombo tu cha zawadi ambayo ni haki ya wenyeji wa nchi yetu.
Watu wetu hawawezi kuwa ila wanyenyekevu , wa lakini wakati ule ule kuona fahari, kwa sababu mmojawao amechaguliwa kuingia miongoni mwa wanawake na wanaume mashuhuri wameoheshimiwa kadhalika tangu zamani.
Najiletea ukumbuko wa majina haya kwa sababu siyo kudhani tu kwamba hao ni dalili ya eneo na namna ya zawadi hii tu, lakini ndio wafaa kuwa sifa nzuri ya mtu mkubwa ambayo alikuwa naye jina la zawadi hii - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Maisha na maongezo mbali mbali ya kila mmojawao yanarudisha kwa kiasi sifa ya maisha ya mambo muhimu na mashauri mengi ya Panditji; upendano wa binadamu bila kufikiria juu ya mwenyewe, Mama Teresa, mtu wa siasa kati ya mataifa Josip Broz Tito, viongozi vya siasa maarufu kama Julius Nyerere na Kenneth Kaunda, tabibu mtenda mwema Jonas Salk, na mwongozi wa haki za jumuiya Martin Luther King.
Kwa kweli, Jawaharlal Nehru, alikuwa mtu mfadhili. Mchanganyiko wa watu wengi ndani mmoja : mfanya vita kupata uhuru, mtu wa siasa, mpata daraja la mtaalumu gerezani, mwalimu wa kiingereza, mwana sheria, na mwandishi wa historia, Kwa kuwa mtangulizi wa mwendo wa bila upande amewekea ongezo lakuendelea katika amani ya ulimwengu na udugu wa watu.
Katika mafuriko ya vita vya kubishana utawala ugeni, na kupata uhuru yaliyoenea katika yote ya Afrika na Asia wakati wa baada ya ugomvi, hakuweza kuwa mwenendo wa uhuru wala kiongozi wa taifa hata mmoja isipokuwa kuvutwa kwa njia moja au nyingine na mawazo, vitendo na mfano wa Pandit Nehru na All-India Congress. Kama najithubutu kutazamia yaliyopita katika elimu ya siasa na malezi yangu, naona kwamba mawazo yango yalivutwa na majiribio yake.
Wakati nilikuwa katika cheo kikuu na kujishughulika na siasa ya wanafunzi, nilipata kusikia mara ya kwanza jina la mtu huyu mashuhuri. Miaka ya arobaini, mimi nilisoma mara ya kwanza kitabu chake, "The Unity of India". Kiliniachia chapa isiofutika katika fikira yangu na kutoka wakati ule nilijipatia, nilisoma na nilithamini chochote cha maandiko yake yaliyopatikana.
Na wakati wakusoma maandiko ya maisha yake yaliyoandika mwenyewe, "Glimpses of World History" [Matazamo juu ya Utarehe ya Dunia], mtu huachiwa na mgongano wa kuangamiza kwa eneo kubwa la mawazo yake, na uwezo ukubwa wake wa kuona. Hata humu gerezani hakushindwa kwa kujihangaika bila kiasi katika mambo ya dunia, au shida ya vitu katika mazingira yake. Badala yake, alijitumia katika vitendo vya sanaa na alileta maandiko yatakayoishi kama urithi wa vizazi vya wapendaji wa uhuru.
"Kuta ziko rafiki hatari."
aliandika," baadhi ya wakati huhifadhia kwa ubaya wa nje na hupinga mwingizi ambaye hakukaribishwa. Lakini hufanya wewe mfungwa, na mtumwa, na wewe hununua usafu na ukingo ulivyo kwa kukosa bei ya uhuru. Na kuta zakuogofya kuliko zote ni zile zinazokuamo akilini ambazo zinakuzuia wewe kutupa pokeo ovu kwa sababu liko toka zamani, na kupokea fikira mpya kwa sababu ni ya mpya tena."
Kama vijana wengi katika hali za namna yetu, vijana wa kizazi changu pia walivutwa kuwajaamisha kwa kusikia moyoni fahari ya kitaifa lakini ya dhiki sana. Hasa, baada ya majaribio, pamoja na kifunuo cha mambo ya nyumbani na ya geni, tulipata maoni mapya na, upeo kwa kuzidisha eneo, tulianza kufahamu upungufu wa mawazo mengine ya ujana. Ni wakati ndio ukatufundisha vile, kama asema Panditji.
"....Kuona fahari juu ya taifa ni nzuri pahali pake, lakini ni sahibu ambaye hategemeki, na ni mwandishi wa historia bila salama. Inatupofusha na mara nyingi ina haribu maana ya ukweli, hasa kama inatuhusiana sisi na nchi yetu...."
Humo duniani ambayo maendeleo ya ustadi na wasiliano ya kuajibisha roho yamefupisha nafasi baini ya nchi ambazo kabla hazikufikika kwa kuwa mbali; na huko ambako mawazo siyo ya siku hizi, na tofauti baina ya watu ambazo zilizodhaniwa tu zilikuwa zikafutizwa kwa haraka, na wa upekee uliokuwa ukapitishwa na ushirika na utegemeo, ilimpasa sisi pia kuvua mitazamo yetu yembamba na kuzoea na ukweli wa sasa.
Kama All India Congress, mmojao wa mienendo awali ya uhuru katika dunia ya ukoloni, sisi pia tulianza kutazamia hali yetu humo ulimwenguni. Tulielewa upesi uonyo wa mwanafikira mkuu wa siasi na mwalimu ambayo watu waliomo katika upande mmoja wa dunia hawawezi kupata uhuru wa kweli wakati ndugu zao katika sehemu nyingine baado wako chini ya milki geni.
Watu wetu walitazama kupendeza hali ya umoja ambayo All India Congress iliyoonyesha pamoja na watu wa Uhabeshi, nchi iliyokuwa ameangamizwa na mafashisti wa Uitalia. Tuliona bila zuio ya vichapa, All India Congress ilitamka na ushujaa huruma yake na watu wa Jamhuri ya Uspania. Tulitiliwa binafsi kupata habari ya Congress Mission ya Utabibu iliopelekwa Uchina mwaka wa 1938. Tuliweka akilini kwamba wakati nchi zilizomiliki zilitumaini, na hata zilifanya hila kusukuma nguvu za ushenzi wa manazi wa Ujerumani kukabilana na umoja wa mamadaraka Sovieti ya Urusi, Panditji alidharau wazi mbele wote mwaliko wa kwenda kuzuru Mussolini, na baada ya miaka miwili miingine alikataa tena kukaribishwa na Ujerumani wa Mwendo wa Kitaifa na Kijamaa (maNazi). Badala yake, aliamua kwenda Uczechoslovakia, nchi ambayo ilihainiwa na ilichanguziwa katika upatano wa sifa mbaya ya Muniki.
Kuona baina-taifa ya All-India Congress na viongozi wake tulikumbuka pambazuo ya ndani wakati Mahatma Gandhi alisema :
"Hatuna mipaka katika kunyosha hudumu yetu kwa majirani yetu hata kurusha mipaka imeyopigwa na serikali. Siyo Mungu ameyoweka mipaka hii."
Ingekuwa na kosa kubwa letu kutotaja vifungo vya karibu vimevyoishi kati ya watu wetu na watu wa Uhindi, nakukiri tilio ya moyo, na msaada ya kufanya ambazo tumepokea kwa ajili ya ono la baina-taifa ya All-India Congress .
Chama cha siasa kimechoishi kushinda vyote katika Afrika Kusini , Indian Congress ya Natal, ilisimamishwa na Mahatma Gandhi katika mwaka wa 1894. Alikuwa karani yake ya kwanza na miongoni mwa miaka ishirini ya maisha yake katika Afrika Kusini tulishahidi uzalio wa mawazo yake, na jinsi za kujitihadi ambazo zimetia athari bila hesabu kuhusiana na viendeleo vya watu wa Uhindi na Afrika Kusini. Ilikuwa, ndiko, juu ya ardhi ya Afrika Kusini ambako Mahatmaji aliimarisha na alikumbatia falsafa yake ya 'Satyagraha'[Vita vya haki au Kutoshrikiana] .
Baada yakurudi Uhindi, jitihada zake za Afrika Kusini zilipata kuwa jambo lenyewe la All-India Congress na watu wa Uhindi kwa jumla. Usiku wa kupata uhuru wa Uhindi Pandit Nehru alisema :
"Tangu miaka mirefu tulipanga mkutano na tukio, na sasa wakati umefika wa kukomboa rehani yetu...Mpigo wa saa sita ya usiku wakati wa kulala duniani Uhindi utaamka kuwa yu hai na huru.....Inafaa katika kituo hicho muhimu tuweke nadhiri yakuhudumia Uhindi na watu wake, na pia jambo ambalo ni kubwa zaidi, la binadamu.
Watu wetu hawalipata kungojea sana kushahidi kadiri jambo letu lilikuwa juu kabisa katika fikira za Panditji alipotoa ahadi hii. Uthabiti kutupatia undugu wa ulimwengu katika hali duni yetu ulioonyeshwa na Dada yake ya neema nyingi, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, alipokuwa balozi ya Uhindi huru katika Umoja wa Mataifa, ulimfanyikia yeye msemaji mpendwa wa umati bila sauti siyo katika nchi yetu, na wa Namibia tu, lakini wa watu kama sisi wote popote duniani. Tuliridhikia kuona matamko na jitihada ya Congress wakati wa shindano la uhuru yalikuwa fuatiwa na bidii kuwa kama siasa enyewe ya Serikali ya Uhindi.
Katika Mkutano wa Watu Waasia mwaka wa 1947, huko Delhi, na Bandung mwaka wa 1955, na katika kufanyana shauri na Nchi za Dola katika Milki ya Kiingereza, na katika kiendeleo cha Nchi za Katikati, kokote na kwa nyakati zote, Panditji na Uhindi huru waliozea jambo letu bila kuachana.
Leo, tumetiwa sana binafsi kuona mtoto wake sawa na yeye, mwanamke mwangavu, Mama Indira Gandhi, aendelea mbele juu ya njia ile ile bila punguzo ya juhudi wala jadi. Vitendo vyake, mashughuliko yake, matamko yake, yaishi nasi daima kama mwanzo wa matumaini na kutujipia moyo.
Uhindi kwa kulinda jambo letu hupatia na maana zaidi tukapotazama kwamba yetu ni nchi mmoja tu katika nchi 153 ambazo ziko katika jamaa ya mataifa, na watu wetu kuzidi mamillioni 21ni mkato tupu tu wa jumuiya ya watu duniani. Tena, taabu zetu ingawa ziko kubwa, ziko chache hasa katika dunia ya vuruguvurugu imeyozungukwa na hitilafu, ugomvi, njaa, ukosefu wa chakula cha kutosha, ugonjwa, unyonge, ukosefu wa kuandika na kusoma, na uchukizo.
Lakini, mathalan kamili ya tamthili hii ya Uhindi katika mambo ya dunia inayofanya kutukumbusha kwamba shida zetu, ingawa ziko kali, ni za shida za binadamu zote, na hamna sehemu duniani yaweza kudhani imefunguliwa nazo, hata na mpaka siku unyayo wa umivu wa mwisho umeoletwa na mtu umeng'olewa kwa kila pembe duniani.
Ujuzi huu wa dhiki shirika, ijapokuwa ni wa mpimo mkubwa, mara ile ile unatuwekea hai umoja wetu wa walimwengu kati yetu na madaraka matufe yetu. Kutamka maneno ya Panditji mara moja tena :
"Katika dunia ambayo imejaa na uadui na uchukizi na jeuri, inampasa zaidi kuliko wakati wote wengine kuaminia ajali ya binadamu. Ikiwa wakati ujao kwa sababu ya vitendo vyetu umejazwa na matumaini kwa binadamu, vibaya vya sasa havina maana sana na tunavyo sababu tena yakushughulika kusudia wakati ule."
Na fahamu hii, tunaendelea mbele wathabiti katika imana yetu, kutuingizwa na nguvu ya upendo wa moyo na shirikisho za rafiki zetu ; juu yote, kwa kusadikia kwa msingi mategemeo na mikazo yetu yenyewe, na jambo letu ambalo halishindikwi. Tumwungana nanyi, watu wa Uhindi, na watu wote wako kokote duniani katika jitihada yetu kutekelea kesho mpya, kesho kufanya ukweli kwa watu wote namna ya ulimwengu uliootwa na Rabindranath Tagore katika 'Gitanjali' ('Toleo za Nyimbo')
"Panapo mawazo bila hofu na kichwa kimeshikwa juu, pale ambapo
elimu ni huru;
ambapo dunia haikuvunjwa katika vipande na kuta nyembamba za nyumbani;
ambapo maneno yatoka kwa kiini cha ukweli;
ambapo juhudi bila uchovu hunyosha mkono kwa utimilifu;
ambapo kito kichea cha haki hakikupotea njia yake kwenda mchanga mchungu wa
jangwa ya mazoezi mafu ;
ambapo akili imetanguliwa na hayo endamo mwenye fikra na mitendo
yanayopanuka bila mwisho, humo katika mahali salama pa uhuru, Baba yangu,
uamshe nchi yangu."
Mwaminifu wako,
(Signed) Nelson Mandela
Mrs. Manorama Bhalla
Secretary
Indian Council for Cultural Relations
Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi
Republic of India
P.S. Kama itajulikana kwa tarehe ya juu, barua ililipwa Afisa Mkuu wa Kisiwa cha Robben siku ya 3, August 1980, kuipeleka kwako kwa baridi. Niliongeza kwamba jambo hilo lishikwe na bidii mno. Baadaye, mara nyingi nimeuliza habari kwa Idara ya Magereza kwamba wamepeleka mbele barua hii kwako. Isipokuwa ilikuwa wiki wa mwisho tu katika Decemba niliambiwa kwamba "naweza kushukuru 'Indian Council for Cultural Relations' lakini siyo ndani ya maneno nimeyatumia katika barua hii". Basi, kwa sababu hii, niliamua kutumia hasa mifereji yangu yenyewe kukufikia.
Mwelezo mfupi wa watu wameotajwa lakini wasio na viungo katika barua :
Josip Broz Tito, (1892 - 1980) alikuwa kiongozi wa Yugoslavia ya Pili, iliyoishi kutokea 1943 mpaka 1991. Alikufa mwaka wa 1980 huko Ljubljana. Baada ya mwisho wa vita 1945 kikundi cha Wakomunisti wa Josip Tito walichukua utawala, na mwaka wa 1946, katiba mpya ya Jamhuri ya Yugoslavia ilipanga madaraka sita nchini. Tito hujulikana zaidi kwa sababu ya kupingana na Urusi, na kuanzisha, mwaka wa 1961, Non-Aligned Movement [Mwenendo wa Nchi za Katikati] pamoja na Nasser ya Misri, Nehru ya Uhindi, Sukarno ya Indonesia, na Kwame Nkurumah ya Ghana.
Jonas Edward Salk (1914 – 1995) alikwa tabibu Mwamerikani, huarifiana kwa kutengeneza kinga ya kuchanja kukabiliana ugonjwa wa polio.
Mama Teresa, aliyezaliwa Agnes Bojaxhiu (1910 – 1997), alikuwa sista mkatholiki wa Ualbania . Aliimarisha ' Missionaries of Charity ' na alipata tuzo ya amani ya Nobel mwaka wa 1979. Muda wa miaka arobaini hivi aliuguza wagonjwa, yatimu, na wao karibu kufia, katika mji wa Calcutta (Kolkata), Uhindi.
Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit (1900 - 1990) alikuwa dada ya Rais Jawaharlal Nehru, Rais mwanamke wa kwanza wa Mkutano Mkuu wa Umoja wa Mataifa.
Kenneth David Kaunda, ( 1924 - ), alikuwa Rais wa kwanza ya Zambia, kuanza 1964 mpaka 1991.
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) alikuwa mwongozi mkuu wa kupingana na Serikali ya Uamerika kupatia haki za wananchi. Mwana siasa, Kasisi Battisti, na hatibu maarufu katika nchi ya Uamerika, mwaka wa 1964. King alipata tuzo ya amani ya Nobel wakati alikuwa na umri mdogo zaidi kuliko wote wengineo waliopata tuzo hii. Mwezi wa April 4, 1968, King aliuawa katika mji wa Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
Letter from Nelson Mandela -in original English.
Letter from Nelson Mandela to Mrs. Manorama Bhalla, Secretary of the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations. Photo : Rajiv Gandhi welcoming Nelson Mandela on his arrival in New Delhi to deliver the Nehru Memorial Lecture, October 1990. |
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Robben Island,
7400 Republic of South Africa
3 August 1980
Dear Mrs. Bhalla,
I am writing to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations for honouring me with the 1979 "Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding". Although I have been singled out for this award, I am mindful that I am the mere medium for an honour that rightly belongs to the people of our country.
Our people cannot but feel humble, at the same time proud that one of their number has been selected to join the distinguished men and women who have been similarly honoured in the past.
I recall these names because to my mind they symbolize not only the scope and nature of the award, but they in turn constitute a fitting tribute to the great man after whom it has been named - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The lives and varied contribution of each one of them reflect in some measure the rich and many-sided life of Panditji: selfless humanitarian Mother Teresa, international statesman Josip Broz Tito, notable political leaders Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda, medical benefactor Jonas Salk and civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
Truly Jawaharlal Nehru was an outstanding man. A combination of many men into one: freedom fighter, politician, world statesman, prison graduate, master of the English language, lawyer and historian. As one of the pioneers of the non-aligned movement he has made a lasting contribution to world peace and the brotherhood of man.
In the upsurge of anti-colonial and freedom struggles that swept through Asia and
Africa in the post-war period there could hardly be a liberation movement or national
leader who was not influenced in one way or another by the thoughts, activities and
example of Pandit Nehru and the
While at university and engrossed in student politics I for the first time became familiar with the name of this famous man. In the forties, I for the first time read one of his books, The Unity of India. It made an indelible impression on my mind and ever since then I procured, read and treasured any one of his works that became available.
When reading his autobiography or Glimpses of World History, one is left with the overwhelming impact of the immense scope of his ideas and breadth of his vision. Even in prison he refused to succumb to a disproportionate concern with mundane matters or the material hardships of his environment. Instead he devoted himself to creative activity and produced writings which will remain a legacy to generations of freedom lovers.
"Walls are dangerous companions," he wrote, "they may occasionally protect from outside evil and keep out an unwelcome intruder. But they also make you a prisoner and a slave, and you purchase your so-called purity and immunity at the cost of freedom. And the most terrible of walls are the walls that grow up in the mind which prevent you from discarding an evil tradition simply because it is old, and from accepting a new thought because it is novel."
Like most young men in circumstances similar to ours, the politically inclined youth of my generation too were drawn together by feelings of an intense, but narrow form of nationalism. However with experience, coupled with the unfurling of events at home and abroad, we acquired new perspectives and, as the horizon broadened, we began to appreciate the inadequacy of some youthful ideas. Time was to teach us, as Panditji says, that:
"... Nationalism is good in its place, but is an unreliable friend and an unsafe historian. It blinds us to many happenings and sometimes distorts the truth, especially when it concerns us and our country..."
In a world in which breathtaking advances in technology and communication have shortened the space between the erstwhile prohibitively distant lands; where outdated beliefs and imaginary differences among the people were being rapidly eradicated, where exclusiveness was giving way to cooperation and interdependence, we too found ourselves obliged to shed our narrow outlook and adjust to fresh realities.
Like the All-India Congress, one of the premier national liberation movements of the colonial world, we too began to assess our situation in a global context. We quickly learned the admonition of a great political thinker and teacher that no people in one part of the world could really be free while their brothers in other parts were still under foreign rule.
Our people admired the solidarity the All-India Congress displayed with the people of Ethiopia whose country was being ravaged by Fascist Italy. We observed that undeterred by labels, the All-India Congress courageously expressed its sympathy with republican Spain. We were inspired when we learned of the Congress Medical Mission to China in 1938. We noted that while the imperialist powers were hoping and even actively conniving to thrust the barbarous forces of Nazism against the Soviet Union, Panditji publicly spurned a pressing invitation to visit Mussolini, and two years later he again refused an invitation to Nazi Germany. Instead he chose to go to Czechoslovakia, a country betrayed and dismembered by the infamous Munich deal.
In noting the internationalism of the All-India Congress and its leadership we recalled the profound explanation of Mahatma Gandhi when he said:
"There is no limit to extending our services to our neighbours across State-made frontiers. God never made these frontiers."
It would be a grave omission on our part if we failed to mention the close bonds that have existed between our people and the people of India, and to acknowledge the encouragement, the inspiration and the practical assistance we have received as a result of the international outlook of the All-India Congress.
The oldest existing political organization in South Africa, the Natal Indian Congress, was founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1894. He became its first secretary and in 21 years of his stay in South Africa we were to witness the birth of ideas and methods of struggle that have exerted an incalculable influence on the history of the peoples of India and South Africa. Indeed it was on South African soil that Mahatmaji founded and embraced the philosophy of Satyagraha.
After his return to India Mahatmaji's South African endeavours were to become the cause of the All-India Congress and the people of India as a whole. On the eve of India's independence Pandit Nehru said:
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we should redeem our pledge... At the stroke of the midnight hour when the world sleeps India will awaken to life and freedom. ... It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take a pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity."
Our people did not have to wait long to witness how uppermost our cause was in Panditji's mind when he made this pledge. The determination with which his gifted sister Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Pandit as free India's ambassador to the United Nations, won universal solidarity with our plight, made her the beloved spokesman of the voiceless masses not only of our country and Namibia but of people like ours throughout the world. We were gratified to see that the pronouncements and efforts of the Congress during the independence struggle were now being actively pursued as the policy of the Government of India.
At the Asian People's Conference in Delhi in 1947, at Bandung in 1955, at the Commonwealth deliberations, in the non-aligned movement, everywhere and at all times, Panditji and free India espoused our cause consistently.
Today we are deeply inspired to witness his equally illustrious daughter, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, continue along the same path with undiminished vitality and determination. Her activities, her interest, her pronouncements, remain for us a constant source of hope and encouragement.
India's championing of our cause assumes all the more significance when we consider that ours is but one of the 153 countries which constitute the family of nations and our over 21 million people a mere fraction of the world's population. Moreover our hardships, though great, become small in the context of a turbulent world enveloped by conflict, wars, famine, malnutrition, disease, poverty, illiteracy and hatred.
However, it is precisely India's exemplary role in world affairs that also serves to remind us that our problems, acute as they are, are part of humanity's problems and no part of the world can dare consider itself free of them unless and until the day the last vestige of man-made suffering is eradicated from every corner of the world.
This knowledge of shared suffering, though formidable in dimension, at the same time keeps alive in us our oneness with mankind and our own global responsibilities that accrue therefrom. It also helps to strengthen our faith and belief in our future. To invoke once more the words of Panditji:
"In a world which is full of conflict and hatred and violence, it becomes more necessary than at any other time to have faith in human destiny. If the future we work for is full of hope for humanity, then the ills of the present do not matter much and we have justification for working for that future."
In this knowledge we forge ahead firm in our beliefs, strengthened by the devotion and solidarity of our friends; above all by an underlying faith in our own resources and determination and in the invincibility of our cause. We join with you, the people of India, and with people all over the world in our striving towards a new tomorrow, tomorrow making a reality for all mankind the sort of universe that the great Rabindranath Tagore dreamed of in Gitanjali:
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where
knowledge is free;
where the world has not been broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
where words came out from the depths of truth;
where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead
habit;
where the mind is led forward by these into ever widening thought and action
into that haven of Freedom, My Father, let my country awake."
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) Nelson Mandela
Mrs. Manorama Bhalla
Secretary
Indian Council for Cultural Relations
Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi
Republic of India
P.S. As will be seen from the above date, letter was given to the Officer Commanding Robben Island on the 3rd August 1980 for dispatch to you by mail. I added that the matter should be treated urgently. Since then I have repeatedly enquired from the Department of Prisons as to whether the letter had been forwarded to you. Only during the last week in December was I told that I "could thank the Indian Council for Cultural Relations but not in the words used in the letter". For this reason I decided to use my own channels of reaching you.
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