Page 25 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

in French, dancing and elocution. He bought a violin and started taking lessons

"to cultivate an ear for Western music". He bought a book on elocution.

But the cumulative effect of all this on his meagre resources and on his mind
soon made him examine his own motives. He was not going to spend his life in

England. His ambition was not to become a faint and fragmented copy of an

Englishman. He had come to England to study, and he should go back to his
studies, — it is not externals that made a gentleman, but character.

As soon as Gandhi arrived at this conclusion, he wrote to his elocution teacher
and dance teacher setting out these thoughts and apologizing for discontinuing

his studies. He went to the violin teacher and requested her to help him

dispose of the violin. He told her how he had discovered that he was following a

false ideal. She encouraged him in his determination to make a complete
change.

The introspection also extended to other areas. He became conscious of the

way he was spending his money and time. He began keeping an account of
every penny he spent and insisted on tallying his balance before going to sleep.

This habit stayed with him all through his life and stood him in good stead when

he had to keep accounts of the large sums of money that he collected for public
causes.

The daily scrutiny of expenses also led to the realization that he could lead a

far simpler and more, frugal life. So he moved to a single room apartment,
walked to his places of business to save on bus fares; and cooked as much of his

food as he could. All this helped him to live at an incredibly low expenditure.

The change helped Gandhi to harmonize his "inward and outward life".

In his new found enthusiasm for vegetarianism, Gandhi began contributing

articles on vegetarianism. He joined the Vegetarian Society, took part in its
deliberations, opened a branch in the area in which he lived and worked as the

secretary of the society. This gave him an opportunity to learn how institutions

are run and how societies transact their business in meetings. It also enabled

him to think dispassionately and precisely, and formulate his independent

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