Page 110 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

of hooligans and would-be murderers for the twenty-four hours of the day. He

would share their agony and risks. He would try to bring back sanity through his

courage and his appeal to the sense of humanness and compassion in the
Muslims. He decided that he would send the members of his entourage to live

alone in far dispersed areas, as he lived, instilling courage in the minds of the

Hindus and compassion and human kindness in the minds of the Muslims.

He himself would set up his headquarters in the village of Srirampur. It was a

typical site. Only three of the hundreds of Hindu families living there had

survived. Gandhi had with him his Bengali Secretary, Nirmal Kumar Bose, and
his stenographer. His granddaughter Manu too was with him. The madness that

he saw launched Gandhi into intense and ruthless introspection. He had tried to

place the law of love before the people, in South Africa, in India. He had tried

to practise it incessantly. He had passed through fire many times to purify
himself and his people. Yet today what he could see all around him was untruth

and hatred and brutal violence. It appeared as though he had failed. Why did

he fail? Was there something lacking in him?

Was there something lacking in his understanding of the law of love? Had he

been too frail and too broken an instrument to be the medium of an invincible

power? He should purify himself even further. He should reduce himself to zero
and rid himself of his impurities. The moment demanded that he pass through

fire to rid himself of his impurities so that the pure ore of love would shine

through him and bring people to their senses.

He decided to disband his camp at Srirampur and to walk alone from village to

village. He would go alone, entrusting himself to* God, — the God of love and

Truth. The district was crisscrossed by rivulets, and was marshy. Paths were

overgrown with thorny bush. Rivers had to be crossed by walking along bamboo
poles that had been stretched above the waters to serve as bridges. He was old

and weak. He might slip and fall into the flowing waters or eddies. He

discarded the use of footwear. He would walk on barefoot, braving thorns and
quagmires. He was willing to leave a trail of blood, — his own blood — to mark

his quest for compassion and love. He was at the mercy of the very people who

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