Mahatma Gandhi is ever spoken with much respect and admiration, not only by the Indian politicians but also by the masses in India. Not many know that there was a popular and much respected lady in India who frequently called him, "Mickey Mouse". It was none other than Sarojini Naidu, who is known by the sobriquet, ‘The Nightingale of India’. She was a distinct personality. “We want deeper sincerity of motive, a greater courage in speech and earnestness in action,” Sarojini Naidu said; her words really charged the Indians in their struggle against the British rule. She grew up to be a bright student but ended up as a model politician. Life is not exactly what we plan but what destiny envisions.
She topped in her matriculation examination at Madras University and thus became a National Fame. She was writing poems right in her school days itself. It was her poetry and talents that compelled Nizam of Hyderabad, to give her scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16, she travelled to England for her studies. Her whole interest still was in poetry. By the time she was 30 she could release many collections of poems.
Sarojini Naidu played a leading role during the Civil Disobedience Movement in India. In 1942, Sarojini Naidu was arrested during the "Quit India" movement and was jailed for 21 months with Gandhiji. She shared a very warm relationship with Gandhiji. It was at these days she began calling Gandhiji, ‘Mickey Mouse’. More than a cartoon character, Mickey Mouse is seen as an always cheerful, mischievous but adventurous personality. It is not clear if these were the only reasons why she called Gandhiji, by this name.
Mickey Mouse also has a strange story to say. The Disney studio was creating a series of cartoons by name ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’. But Disney’s own staff betrayed him and Walt Disney virtually ended up with no rights on Oswald, though his own creation. It was then, urged by a flame of determination that Disney gave birth to Mortimer Mouse. The name Mickey Mouse actually was the proposal of Lilian, Disney’s wife. Thus in 1928, Mickey Mouse was born. Sarojini Naidu might have intended the fire which Gandhiji contained all his life and how he inspired the spirits of the entire humanity.
