Gandhi and the orange

In Union Square I came across this statue of Gandhi in a little garden enclosed by a fence. Though there were thousands of people milling around the surrounding park, no one was inside this little enclosure. Perhaps that should have served as evidence that I oughtn't have entered. But to no avail, however. Photos were to be had.

Because how often does one encounter a statue of Gandhi holding a brightly colored orange? I don't know whether the orange was real or plastic, but it seemed to me a lovely gift to give this moral exemplar and blessed martyr of the 20th century--indeed, one of my heroes and undeniably one of the most beautiful souls of modernity. Certainly placing a hamburger in his hand would have been bad form if not just horribly offensive. Though it would have been richly ironic had the cow from which the hamburger had been churned actually once held the soul of Gandhi himself. Then there would have been a kind of poetic symmetry. Or perhaps just more Western imperial oppression. Really it's your call. In either case, oranges--plastic or otherwise--were the way to go.