> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Mahatma 189 - URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mahatma-189-4608jsp/ - Published: 2007-05-10T23:05:00.000Z - Updated: 2019-02-14T22:55:59.000Z - Author: Jim Gabour - Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 19:37 "You know, Jim-Jim, this non-violence shit really pays." This from the mouth of the infamous "Mad Dog" Salvatano, semi-retired bookie and gambler extraordinaire. The setting: happy hour at Tujague's Bar on Decatur street, New Orleans, on a classic spring Monday. I made note of the occasion immediately onto a cocktail napkin. I wanted to research later to see if some heavy-metal planet oozing radiation had slipped from orbit, reasoning that there must be some cause for what I had just heard. Contradiction on such a cosmic scale does often not occur without a substantial prompt. And The Dog is not known as a master of self-restraint in any portion of his life. Thus, his name. This man was embracing non-violence? He had more to say. Jim Gabour is an award-winning [film producer](http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.loyno.edu/search/images/jgabour.jpg&imgrefurl=http://music.loyno.edu/facultybios/jgabour&h=234&w=212&sz=12&tbnid=anX8c4ipntKDfM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=94&hl=en&start=6&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJim%2BGabour%2B%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN&ref=opendemocracy.net), writer and director living in New Orleans. His website is [here](http://www.jimgabour.com/?ref=opendemocracy.net) A full list of Jim Gabour's articles in openDemocracy to date: "[The deliveryman's story](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/deliveryman%5F3395.jsp)" (28 March 2006) "[Urban renewal](http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/urban%5Frenewal%5F3672.jsp)" (23 June 2006) "[The big heat](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/heat%5F3723.jsp)" (10 July 2006) "[Insecticide](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/insecticide%5F3835.jsp)" (21 August 2006) "[Life as a remainder](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/life%5Fremainder%5F3902.jsp)" (14 September 2006) "[Long life lines](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/beirut%5Forleans%5F3971.jsp)" (6 October 2006) "[Swimming](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/swimming%5F4196.jsp)" (19 December 2006) "[The two worlds of New Orleans](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/violence%5Fdrugs%5Fkatrina%5F4289.jsp)" (26 January 2007) “[Cutting loose](http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-climate%5Fchange%5Fdebate/cutting%5Floose%5F4590.jsp)” (4 May 2007) "Yeah, me and my lady we was watching *Gandhi* last night..." I felt another slip in the universe. "...and there he was in prison..." This I knew he could relate to. "... wearing a uniform with the numbers 189 on the pocket." OK... "So I got up right then and there and drove to the Cracker Barrel Mini-mart and put a buck on the Lotto Quick Pick 3, betting the numbers 1, 8 & 9..." Oh, no. "I tell the cashier where I got my numbers, and she's cute and laughs. Seems to like me, I mean, but who doesn't? Who can resist The Dog in his prime? Though she has these dimples, which are making me crazy. So I buy us each a beer out the cooler, and we have a little talk about this philosophy stuff. We drink a second beer. Almost no customers, you know, on a Sunday night. Even let me sit behind the counter with her while we was sipping our brews. Very classy dame. I got her number. "Then I figured I'd go finish the movie and get some more of the scoop, but by the time I get home, this Gandhi guy is dead, and Linda smells somebody else's perfume on me and asks me where I been and isn't any too hot about giving me a recap of the plot. "I figure it can wait and go to bed. Alone. "So I get up this morning, look at the paper, and sure enough, there it is: the Quick Pick 3 winning numbers are 189\. Natch. I won me five hundred bucks because a dead Indian went to jail in South Africa. I'm gonna watch that movie all the way through tonight. Maybe he sent me some more messages, hunh?" I added that to my notes. *The Dog looks to Gandhi for messages*, I wrote. Looking at the wadded, marker-stained cocktail napkin now, I have decided to add the flimsy piece of paper to my mojo altar. It's best to pay attention when these things happen, and I am. Gandhi probably did, too.