Mahatma Gandhi's haemoglobin level, blood colour index and red blood cell count, as recorded 10 days before his assassination, will see the light of day when Los Angeles- based billionaire James Otis puts the blood report up for auction within a week.
A yellowed sheet of paper containing the results of a blood test conducted on the Mahatma on January 21, 1948, at Irwin Hospital ( now known as the LNJP Hospital) lies in a bank locker owned by Otis, who is a descendant of the man who invented the elevator.
Otis last made headlines in March 2009 when he put up for auction Gandhi's iconic spectacles and Zenith pocket watch dating back to 1910, for which liquor baron Vijay Mallya coughed up $ 1.8 million ( Rs 9.3 crore at rates prevailing last year).
With the money Otis raises from the present auction, he says he will fund the non-violent overthrow of the dictatorial regimes of El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
The announcement by the maverick art collector and documentary filmmaker was met with predictable anger by the more vocal descendants of the Mahatma.
Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, vicechairperson of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti and Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, says, "The blood report is a personal document. I really don't know how to react to this. Otis says he is very wealthy. If so, why doesn't he use his own money to fund non- violent struggles, instead of resorting to such auctions?" The place for the blood reports, says Bhattacharjee, is a museum and not an auction. But the Mahatma's great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, says he couldn't be bothered about the auction.
"Otis is sitting on many more Gandhi items. He is going to keep doing this," says the man who had been most vocal in his opposition to the March 2009 auction.
Otis has in his possession "hundreds" of Gandhi items with letters to establish their authenticity.
He has been sourcing these for over a decade now. He declined from saying where he picked up the blood report from and when and where it will be auctioned, saying he will make an announcement soon.
"I would like the proceeds of the auction to go to three or four peace organisations using nonviolent means to oppose the governments in Latin America," is all that he is prepared to disclose at the moment. All of last year, claims Otis, he has been delivering talks on non- violent ways of overthrowing the governments in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Otis was in the thick of controversy last year over his decision to place five personal items of Gandhi up for auction at Antiquorum Auctioneers, New York.
These included a sterling silver keyless Zenith pocket watch with an alarm used by the Mahatma between 1910 and 1915, and a bowl and plate he had gifted to his grandniece Abha. The items come with a letter of authentication from Gita Mehta, Abha Gandhi's adopted daughter.
Otis maintains that he has decided to go for another auction because it is time to bring Gandhi's message into the spotlight yet again. " Few are speaking of Gandhi's hard work," he says.
" My job is to promote his work and raise more money to spread his message." The blood reports, he says, are " yellow and crinkly", but he has taken care to preserve them in acid- free plastic to make sure that the paper is not oxidised further.
" I don't want his items to sit in my private collection. They don't help anybody by lying in safe deposits," he says.
On a visit to India last year - he had then been advised to wear a bullet- proof jacket - Otis had apologised for angering Indians, and said, " I would never try to make profit of a man who has guided me spiritually all my life." He now says the proceeds from the Antiquorum auction have gone to the US- based Albert Einstein Institution, and other organisations promoting non- violence, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Office of the Americas.
Otis's extensive collection of Gandhi memorabilia includes two letters, " a beautiful photograph of Gandhi in a big British automobile" and a cotton shawl worn by him, which he had acquired at a Boston auction. He says he used to take the items to private dinners to spread Gandhi's message.
Guiding him closely on his Gandhi collection is Prof Lester Kurtz, his teacher whom he met over 20 years ago at the University of Texas in Austin, when they were arrested together during a non- violent protest. Since then, Otis and Kurtz have worked together on a range of projects on non- violent movements. Kurtz is now a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University, Fairfax (Virginia).
Kurtz, says Otis, possesses a vial of Gandhi's blood and ashes - but he would never sell it. " It would be disgraceful to sell it, though he would consider donating it for a worthwhile cause," says Otis. He himself is willing to donate his Gandhi collection to the Government of India - provided it promises to help fund non- violent causes and exhibits the items across the world.
He may draw flak from the descendants of the Mahatma but Otis is in no mood to back down from his self- proclaimed mission.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/
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