As part of their journey to several countries, Prof Rajmohan Gandhi and his wife Usha visited the West Bank and Israel at the beginning of April. Along with Edward Peters they were guests of Dr Mustafa Barghouthi and the Palestinian National Initiative in the West Bank before continuing to Jerusalem for 24 hours.

At the end of a two-week visit to South Africa, Professor Rajmohan Gandhi delivered a Vice-Chancellor's Open lecture at the University of Cape Town, calling for 'a coalition of conscience' within countries and across the world to confront 'the real enemies... of hate, fear and greed'.

At the age of 16, Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, answered the door one day to receive a message for his father, then editor of the daily Hindustan Times. The message read: ‘Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, shot. Further details to follow.’ The young Gandhi, keen to impress, retorted: ‘I hope the further news will be that he is dead.’

The visit of Rajmohan and Usha Gandhi was on the invitation of Initiatives of Change, Sri Lanka. The visit, the main purpose of which was to meet friends from the past and in relatively small groups, those who could help in building bridges between the many groups, who over the years had allowed barriers to arise and divisions of mistrust to be created. The visit had as its theme, ‘ Onward with Truth and Integrity for Justice and Peace. ’

The Gandhis were met on arrival at 2230 hrs, at the VIP lounge of the Bandaranaike International Airport by Ms. Rohini de Mel and Hiran Fernando.

Rajmohan Gandhi strongly advised against labelling all Pakistanis as terrorists and shared his three-point mantra for India to become a world power, one of which was that people in the country should stop stereotyping on the basis of religion. He was speaking at a lecture organised on the 50th death anniversary of Gandhi's close aide J.C. Kumarappa, who died at Jan 30, 1960.

Rajmohan Gandhi spoke at a public lecture at the University of Geneva on the theme ‘The message of Mahatma Gandhi and Asia today’.

On a short lecture-visit around Gandhi birthday to the cities of Hamilton and Toronto in Canada’s Ontario Province (2-5 October), it was heartening to find energy and commitment for bridging divides.

Under the headline "'The Good Boatman' sails to China", the website china.org.cn reports the translation into Chinese of Rajmohan's first book about his grandfather.

Rajmohan Gandhi spoke at the City Club of Cleveland about his grandfather and his new book. He also visited the Indian Cultural Garden in Cleveland. He spoke about his grandfather and posed for photos in front of the impressive Mahatma Gandhi statue. He also assisted in planting and dedicating a tree in the Garden.

http://www.clevelandpeople.com/groups/asian-indians/rajmohan-garden.htm