-Ravi Sinha
Recently,
the Indian Prime Minister had occasion to report to the Japanese on his
genealogy and haematic chemistry. Addressing a house-full of corporate honchos
in Tokyo he declared, “I am a Gujarati, money is in my blood”. One does not
know what percentage of Gujaratis would feel insulted by such a description. It
can be asked, perhaps more meaningfully, if great civilizations are created by money-in-the-blood
types and one may wonder if Gujarati greats such as Narsi Mehta, Narmad,
Govardhan Ram or Gandhi, too, had money flowing in their blood.