The Mahatma is on the currency and the celluloid and the consciousness of a nation. Indians may not be too keen on charkha and celibacy but are striving to keep the memory of the Father alive. He is elsewhere too — in unexpected places. There is a photograph of Gandhi at Ground Zero in New York where terror brought down the Twin Towers; he is on the placards in anti-Israel demonstration in West Bank; as a silhouette against the mist-enveloped Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; and even on a pair of paint-splashed jeans in Hong Kong. Vijay Rana, a contributor to The Indian Express and editor of London-based web-radio NRIfm.com, has culled these images in his book Mahatma Gandhi: Images and Ideas for Non-Violence (NRIfm).

The book features quotations along with photographs to show how the man remains the face against oppression. “Villagers of Bel’ in West Bank scored an important court victory against the Israeli government. The Israeli Supreme Court was impressed by their peaceful protest and asked the government to remove the electric barrier from their village. This is the triumph of the Gandhian way,” says Rana.

During his journeys, Rana saw Gandhi sharing wall space with Harry Potter in Notting Hill and on Spanish Steps. “I saw Gandhi puppets and posters in the anti-war protests in the UK and the US and was convinced that his image and ideas were being used to spread the message of peace across the world,” says Rana. The book took him three years and hundreds of e-mails to Gandhian groups and photographers from across the world.