Gandhi biography chapter 1

Gandhi was 45 when he arrived in India in January 1915 onboard SS Arabia.

Why biography is needed?

Every generation has different interpretations and applications of Gandhian ideals.

New information had come out after pyarelal nayar and his sister died. Their letters were compiled by Nehru memorial museum in Delhi.

Gandhi is applicable probably even more than ever in almost all aspects of our lives.

Chapter 1 the returning hero

He first decided to go to London before coming to India as he had been away for almost a decade and had not travelled much in India. Thus he wanted to meet his guru Gokhle who could advise him on how to go about things in India.

Even when he was on his way , the WW1 broke out. He met Sarojini Naidu in London and was later joined by Gokhle.

His companion from South Africa Hermann Kallenbach ( refered as Hanuman in South Africa) could not join him to India as he was a German and British didn't allow him to travel.

He received a great welcome when he arrived in India because Gokhle and others had written many articles praising him for his work in South Africa. He even attended a meeting where Jinnah was the main speaker and even he praised Gandhi.

Back in London he had decided to support British in war through ambulance core. His reasons -

He was eating food in London and living securely only because of the British Navy. Hence it was his way of paying back.

It wasn't violation of ahimsa as he was just treating the wounded. Infact he said he would love to treat a German wounded as well if given a chance.

Sarojini Naidu too helped him in this effort.

Back home

Shortly after his arrival Gokhle died. Gandhi realised he had differences with servants of India society as they employed servants to do their daily chores. This was unacceptable to Gandhi hence he decided to not join the society.

He started traveling throughout the country and met many different people. He received the most popular welcome in Madras as many of the Indians who went to jail with him were from here.

He went to shantineketan and met tagore. He also met his old friend Pranjivan Mehta based out of Burma. He was the first to call him Mahatma.

Later he decided to setup an ashram in Ahmedabad because -

It was British but the people had not westernised.

There were many Hindu and Jain businessmen who could fund.

There was a significant population of Muslims.

There was no other pan India leader based out of there yet.

Hence he setup his ashram near sabarmati. He was funded by a businessman Giridhardas. Soon fellow social reformer AK Thakkar wrote to him that an untouchable family want to join him at Ashram.

Gandhi decided to invite them. However people were not happy with this and Giridhardas stopped his funding. Another industrialist Ambalal Sarabhai decided to step in and paid him money worth 2 years of expenses.

Also

His relationship with his first born son Hiralal was not good. He had left to London an year after he was born. Gandhi never gave much attention to him. Hiralal did love marriage which was not acceptable to Gandhi.

Gandhi never realized that he may have been wrong. Hiralal even accused Gandhi of being intolerant and never listened to his sons.

Lastly Gandhi had advocated celibacy. He said the purpose of sex was only procreation. He made this a condition at his Ashram.

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