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painting Gandhi is a passion for this man
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The year was 1947. India had won independence but the country was partitioned.
Partition saw many families migrating to India and an equal number of families moving to Pakistan. Suraj Sadan, an eight-year-old boy, was a part of one such family that walked from Pakistan to Delhi.

The life in the refugee camp had a bright lining, remembers the young boy, now a 69 year old man. "It was October. One day Mahatma Gandhi visited our camp. Even today, I remember him; he was like a bronze statue, shining. He sat on the floor and sang Easwar Allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de bhagwan with three girls. That was one of the most unforgettable moments in my life," Sadan says"Gandhi is dead for all the others but for me, he will always be alive. I saw him alive, and I can still feel the magnetic vibes that came from him. As I looked at him, I said to myself, when I grow older, I will make his drawings. I had been drawing even when I was in the refugee camp."
He did draw the Mahatma when he was older. In 1956, the Hindustan Times and Navbharat Times asked him to do the drawings of Gandhiji for the newspapers. For the next ten years, he mainly drew various poses of the Mahatma and also many other political leaders like Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, etc.

"But it was mainly Mahatma Gandhi."

Laurels came to him soon, one after another. In 1965, he won a scholarship from the French government and moved to Paris. Soon after that, he was able to hold an exhibition of the Gandhi paintings in Paris. In 1969, the French government decided to celebrate Gandhi centenary, and he was invited to have an exhibition of his Gandhi paintings again in Paris.UNESCO published his paintings on the cover page and the French government also selected a painting of his for a stamp.
Once a person approached him at an exhibition and invited him to Canada saying he 'could contribute a lot to the country'.

So, Sadan moved to Canada in 1971. From then on, Montreal in Canada has been his home. "But I pass my time travelling all over the world painting Gandhiji. Rather, Gandhiji takes me to all these places."

He paints Gandhiji because he wants to keep his spirit alive through his paintings and his quotations. "Every time I paint Gandhiji, I get new inspiration, new composition, new expression and new vibrations. Every time I paint him, he is different. I get peace when I paint him. I don't know why. Before spreading his message of peace, I feel peace first!"
In 2006, Sadan started the Mahatma Gandhi International Foundation, and the foundation invites people who can spread Gandhi's message.
"Those who come to listen to them get the message of peace ad non-violence."

Sadan feels that Gandhiji's message of peace is more appreciated in other countries than in India. "Their faces brighten the moment you utter the name of Gandhi but in India, he is forgotten. Many outside India tell me that he would be the only guy who could bring peace to today's world. In India, his name is uttered many times but in India's heart, he is not there. I feel Gandhi is more celebrated in other countries than in India."




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January 9, 2009 | 3:21 AM Comments  0 comments

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