Reading Comprehension 2

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The phrase “What is it like?” stands for a fundamental thought process. How does one go about
observing and reporting on things and events that occupy segments of earth space? Of all the
infinite variety of phenomena on the face of the earth, how does one decide what phenomena to
observe? There is no such thing as a complete description of the earth or any part of it, for every
microscopic point on the earth’s surface differs from every other such point. Experience shows
that the things observed are already familiar, because they are like phenomena that occur at home
or because they resemble the abstract images and models developed in the human mind. How are
abstract images formed? Humans alone among the animals possess language; their words
symbolize not only specific things but also mental images of classes of things. People can
remember what they have seen or experienced because they attach a word symbol to them.
During the long record of our efforts to gain more and more knowledge about the face of the
earth as the human habitat, there has been a continuing interplay between things and events. The
direct observation through the senses is described as a percept; the mental image is described as a
concept. Percepts are what some people describe as reality, in contrast to mental images, which
are theoretical, implying that they are not real. The relation of Percept to Concept is not as
simple as the definition implies. It is now quite clear that people of different cultures or even
individuals in the same culture develop different mental images of reality and what they perceive
is a reflection of these preconceptions. The direct observation of things and events on the face of
the earth is so clearly a function of the mental images of the mind of the observer that the whole
idea of reality must be reconsidered. Concepts determine what the observer perceives, yet
concepts are derived from the generalizations of previous percepts. What happens is that the
educated observer is taught to accept a set of concepts and then sharpens or changes these
concepts during a professional career. In any one field of scholarship, professional opinion at one
time determines what concepts and procedures are acceptable, and these form a kind of model of
scholarly behavior
IIIIIII
It should be remembered that the nationalist movement in India, like all nationalist movements,
was essentially a bourgeois movement. It represented the natural historical stage of development,
and to consider it or to criticise it as a working-class movement is wrong. Gandhi represented
that movement and the Indian masses in relation to that movement to a supreme degree, and he
became the voice of Indian people to that extent. The main contribution of Gandhi to India and
the Indian masses has been through the powerful movements which he launched through the
National Congress. Through nation-wide action he sought to mould the millions, and largely
succeeded in doing so, and changing them from a demoralised, timid and hopeless mass, bullied
and crushed by every dominant interest, and incapable of resistance, into a people with self-
respect and self-reliance, resisting tyranny, and capable of united action and sacrifice for a larger
cause. Gandhi made people think of political and economic issues and every village and every
bazaar hummed with argument and debate on the new ideas and hopes that filled the people.
That was an amazing psychological change. The time was ripe for it, of course, and
circumstances and world conditions worked for this change. But a great leader is necessary to
take advantage of circumstances and conditions. Gandhi was that leader, and he released many of
the bonds that imprisoned and disabled our minds, and none of us who experienced it can ever
forget that great feeling of release and exhilaration that came over the Indian people. Gandhi has
played a revolutionary role in India of the greatest importance because he knew how to make the
most of the objective conditions and could reach the heart of the masses, while groups with a
more advanced ideology functioned largely in the air because they did not fit in with those
conditions and could therefore not evoke any substantial response from the masses. It is perfectly
true that Gandhi, functioning in the nationalist plane, does not think in terms of the conflict of
classes, and tries to compose their differences. But the action he has indulged and taught the
people has inevitably raised mass consciousness tremendously and made social issues vital.
Gandhi and the Congress must be judged by the policies they pursue and the action they indulge
in. But behind this, personality counts and colours those policies and activities. In the case of
very exceptional person like Gandhi the question of personality becomes especially important in
order to understand and appraise him. To us he has represented the spirit and honour of India, the
yearning of her sorrowing millions to be rid of their innumerable burdens, and an insult to him
by the British Government or others has been an insult to India and her people.

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