Zenani - What have you brought to the world?. Review on Long Walk to Freedom, The - Nelson Mandela

I hate biographies. The last time I picked one it took almost five to six weeks for me to reach the end. Each of these weeks seemed like months. It was then that I developed an aversion to biographies. Back then I had just entered college and actually had time to read 'My experiments with the truth' – an autobiography of Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi.

Almost six years later (after I first entered college), I excused myself for picking a book that actually made no difference to my life. I decided to read another biography. This time it was Nelson Mandela's 'Long Walk to Freedom'.

While earlier it took weeks to finish my experiments with MG's autobiography, with Nelson Mandela I took even longer – six months to be precise. And the most wonderful part about reading the autobiography at such a slow pace was that I enjoyed each moment and relished turning each page. For the each page that I turned it provided me a new perspective on what and how freedom fighters think. Though initially every time I picked this book I would fall asleep. But then gradually I started taking interest. I reached a point where I would think of hardships that Mandela underwent.

I have finished reading 'Long walk to freedom' (it is divided in two parts and part I consists of six parts or chapters) Nelson Mandela is my hero. I would be doing great injustice if I wrote about Mandela's autobiography as boring. For the kind of life that he lived from 1918(the year he was born) onwards is no ordinary one. And whom did he live it for? For his people, for equality and for freedom. Though the world has given him a Nobel Prize, he deserves more. Probably the best award would be a world devoid of racism and inequality of any kind.

Long walk to freedom

Divided in 11 parts, I picked the first part of this wonderful account of Mandela's life from 1918-1962. Long walk to freedom (part I) terminates just when Mandela was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. Part I ends at the most interesting part. While serving the five year sentence Mandela underwent Rivonia trial and was sentenced life sentence on June 12, 1964. I am dying to read the second part.

Divided into six portions the initial part of Long walk to freedom consists of following subtitles -

A Country Childhood

The Black Pimpernel

A closer look at these subtitles immediately lends you an insight on the path taken by Mandela while compiling the various phases of his life. He starts from his early years and moves on to give a detailed account of his education, building up of values that help him later in his life, love for freedom, how he became a lawyer and subsequently a freedom fighter.

It is a captivating piece of work though in the beginning it becomes a bore. The chapters which kept me engrossed were mostly those where Mandela recollects detailed accounts of his childhood days. It showed how much he loved his freedom (who would not – It is really sad that there are people who do not value the freedom of others). Then the portions where Mandela describes how his thought process was moulded towards becoming a freedom fighter, how he entered the phase when he realized that a silent and non-violence revolution was not enough to procure freedom to his country.

In fact Mandela had no other option but to resort to violence. After all if a man (a country) who (which) has been been robbed of its own freedom by a foreigner is bound to resort to violence if all else fails.

Most of all Mandela fought not a personal life but for the good of all. There are excerpts from the novel which go on to describe moments when Mandela felt he was drifting away from his family as he was not spending much time with them. His thoughts often focused on whether all that he was doing was worth it. (I guess yes. He could have bent down and beared oppression and humiliation, but he chose to fight – for is basic right. I guess it is better to die fighting for freedom than succumb to acts of injustice and racism). His personal life suffered a lot because of being neglected. Mandela's first marriage to Evelyn Mase, a nurse in training from Engcobo in the Transkei, ended in 1957 after they reached irreconcilable differences. Mandela married Nomzamo Winifred 'Winnie' Madikzela, from the Transkei and working as a social worker at a hospital. He courts her and files for divorce with Evelyn and marries Winnie in 1958. (Though not mentioned in part I, Mandela divorced Winni and re-married).

But that's just one side of the coin. Mandela chose this life. He wanted him to be free. Freedom for his people was what he looked at and he was prepared to 'die for it'. Being a rebel was not easy. He was banned, arrested and imprisoned. There were times when he was not allowed guests while in jail. To continue with his mission he had to go underground. And while in jail he was subjected to live in in-humane conditions. Even under the nose of the oppressor Mandela stood up to his rights. He asked for proper food and clothing while in jail and won the trial. (Mandela and others were forced to live in a cell where a hhole meant for defecating was cleaned once in a week...thinking of this makes one puke).

The best thing about Mandela is that I see him first as a human being. It is clear that he detested racism. In his words, 'I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man'. His entire name – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela – where Rolihlahla meant pulling the branches of trees or implying troublemaker suited his life action.

Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He was was nicknamed 'The Black Pimpernel'. This was because Mandela's ability to evade arrest and live underground. Mandela's fight against apartheid was continued only because he believed that some day he would see light at the end of the tunnel. His belief was not wrong. Mandela went on to receive the Nobel Prize and the first black president for his country. He sacrificed his personal life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.

I could carry writing on my newfound hero and yet never do full justice to the write-up. I have just begun my journey knowing more about him. For those of you who are interested in knowing more about Nelson Mandela's life for the period 1918-1962 should pick this part. For those who hate biographies like me should spare some though to this. It really might change your opinion on autobiographies.