Lansing - A bright sun shone down on students clad in white T-shirts reading "Be the Change" as they worked together to dig an irrigation ditch with pitch forks and shovels at Hawk Island Park, 1601 E. Cavanaugh St.
The students were part of a group of about 60 participating in service-work around Lansing on Saturday to celebrate National Gandhi Day of Service 2004.
Gandhi Day is Mohandas K. Gandhi's birthday. Gandhi was also known as Mahatma, meaning "great soul."
The event was held by the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students and ASHA, and participating students volunteered at one of seven different sites.
"You should try and honor the person who fathered your country," said Kaashif Qaderi, a philosophy and political science and pre-law senior.
"To take a morning off shows that we care about our country and care about Gandhi's views and what he was as a person. It's something he'd be happy to see if he were still living."
Qaderi and eight others helped students learn from interactive displays at Impression 5 Science Center, 200 Museum Drive, in Lansing.
Some volunteer activities included cleaning streets, playing with children, planting grass and cleaning Potter Park Zoo, 1301 S. Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing.
Students said they felt that honoring Gandhi highlighted the history behind India's origins.
"From the beginning, America won its independence through a war, but in our heritage through India, we won our independence through Gandhi," chemistry sophomore Kunil Raval said. "He freed the country from the same people, but Gandhi did it without firing a shot.
"It's comforting to know that it is possible to free a country without war."
Raval said he was happy to have a way of honoring India's independence.
"The American way of doing it is celebrating the 4th of July," he said. "Instead of launching fireworks, we volunteer."
Parimal Thakor, a hospitality business junior, stressed the importance of honoring the memory of Gandhi, who accomplished change through peaceful means, at a time when the United States is at war.
"We're making a statement that with all the war and politics and everything right now, so much good can come out of peace," he said. "A whole country was liberated off of peace. He didn't have to fight and he didn't have to blow up things."
John Lee, a psychologist in the MSU Counseling Center, gave a motivational speech to the students before they split into different groups to help the community.
"Whatever you do may not indeed radically change wars going on in the world or poverty, but it's still important that you do it," Lee said.
Marketing sophomore Lavina Karnani said the day for her was a way of mirroring her actions after someone she respected for the differences he made.
"Even though he died, we're making him live forever through volunteer service," she said.
