Reflections on Gandhi by George Orwell is the thirty nineth and the last, but not least of The Essays - you find this collection in the 917th place on The Greatest Books of All Time site, nevertheless, the algorithm changes the places in the hierarchy, ergo you could see a different structure, I don’t know what data is used, however, if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend from the top spots, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the front rows, and they will become the “GOAT” – that notwithstanding, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html if you are interested, why plug this, I don’t know

 

Reflections on Gandhi by George Orwell is the thirty nineth and the last, but not least of The Essays - you find this collection in the 917th place on The Greatest Books of All Time site, nevertheless, the algorithm changes the places in the hierarchy, ergo you could see a different structure, I don’t know what data is used, however, if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend from the top spots, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the front rows, and they will become the “GOAT” – that notwithstanding, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html if you are interested, why plug this, I don’t know

 

 

10 out of 10

 

The Essays of Geroge Orwell https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/10/such-such-were-joys-by-george-orwell-is.html have been fantastic, but Reflections on Gandhi is the last of the collection, except I hope to find a few more – so ecstatic I have been that I am not looking at the whole magnum opera and maybe there are a few essays left

The subject of this ‘last’ note is one of the most adored figures, Mahatma Gandhi https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/09/gandhi-screenplay-by-john-briley-winner.html celebrated as one of the GOAT, greatest men of all time, notwithstanding the mockery of another titan, Winston Churchill

 

The latter called Gandhi a ‘half-naked fakir’, even worse, he was against the independence of India – on this topic, we get from the essay that The British – perhaps it was the English, considering that the Scots, Welsh have near half their populations in favor of independence for themselves, well, the Scottish population, I do not know about Wales – used Gandhi, or thought they did, in the end, the peaceful leader would win

His belief was called ‘non violent protest, but in Gujarati it has a different meaning, the essayist explains, Orwell did not like Gandhi to begin with, his vegetarianism, policies were not interesting at first, I think I remember, and he is not sure about that for later, however, it is clear that this personality has changed the world

 

Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis said this: “I often feel I will never pick up a book by Orwell again until I have read a frank discussion of the dishonesty and hysteria that mar some of his best work” https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-kings-english-guide-to-modern-usage.html I mentioned before the vicious circle

Gandhi could be terrible, he had his convictions and religious beliefs, the fact that he did not eat meat is laudable, the concession on animal products was milk, but at one point, his wife could die, because she needed protein, meat probably, and Gandhi left it up to her, so magnanimous that he did not order her death somehow…

 

Otherwise, he was a great man, all his positions were worth about five pounds when he died, killed by a fanatic, also because of the modesty of the leader who did not have security, not enough to save him anyway – then there is this ‘curse’ they talk about, in a documentary on Discovery or another channel they have this story:

After his death, Indira Gandhi was killed by her guards – she did quite a few terrible things, acted as if India were not a democracy, instituting a long state of emergency – and then Rajiv Gandhi is also assassinated, this time with a bomb, by a woman suicide killer, and ow they have Modi for…ever maybe, that is until he dies

 

Mixed feelings with this leader they have now, popular, but quite obnoxious, patronizing a nationalistic, violent at times party – he was in charge when a mass killing took place at a  religious site – and for years, he has been buying Russian oil, one of the good few things Trump did -even this is a qualified good – was to impose tariffs on India, because they pay for that horrific war in Ukraine, and must stop that, as soon as possible- we will see what happens- that orange idiot is demolishing The White House, as we speak  

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’