He urged his fellow Indians not to accept inequality but instead work hard, learn English, and live a clean lifestyle. Gandhi was outraged at the racist policies in South Africa and decided to speak up. He also experienced racism when he stayed at hotels or tried to eat at restaurants that would only serve whites. Gandhi’s experiences in South Africa are well known-he was thrown off trains for being Indian or not having money to pay for first-class travel. To keep peace between them, Britain adopted racist policies to appease both sides however, Indians suffered less than blacks because they mostly worked on plantations for whites. The white settlers and the Boers had a history of violence with each other, so there was always a threat of an eruption. The Boers, who were mostly farmers, controlled two independent republics: the Orange Free State and Transvaal. The British and the Dutch shared power in South Africa. Another big event discussed in this section is the death of Karamchand Gandhi (Gandhi’s father) due to dysentery which happened when Mohandas was only 12 years old. Later in this part we find out more about Gandhi’s marriage at such a young age 13 years old! It says here that Gandhi wasn’t too happy about getting married so early but did it anyway because of societal pressure put upon him by those who knew him best (his family). Both of these books made him realize just how important it was to be honest with yourself and others around you. The two books that had an impact on Gandhi were Harishchandra and Shravana Pitrabhakti Nataka. In addition to that, he also explains how he felt bad for his actions later on in life and decided not to steal again. He also talks about stealing from a shopkeeper when he was young. The first part of the book is about Gandhi’s childhood, including his experiments with meat eating and smoking. In addition, he wants to discuss spiritual and moral matters rather than political ones. However, he decides to write about his experiments with truth in life through this book. He wonders if writing an autobiography is something that Easterners do, since it’s a Western practice. Gandhi has written this book at the request of his friend Jeramdas who is a fellow prisoner. Chapters XXIX–XLIII of Part V were translated by Desai’s friend Pyarelal Nayyar Introduction A cheaper English version is needed so that more people can read about Gandhi’s philosophy and learn how to apply his ideas to their life. 50,000 copies had been sold but since it wasn’t translated into English it prevented Indians from purchasing it. There were five editions by the time this preface was written. The book was originally published in two volumes, the first in 1927 and second in 1929. If you really want to have leadership influence, you have no choice but, as Gandhi, to be the change you want to see in others.1-Page Summary of The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Translator’s preface “Ask only for others to do what you have done yourself first.” Sweets so long as I had not stopped either.” “Because,” replied Gandhi, “two weeks ago I was stillĮating sweets myself. “Why didn’t you just tell him that two weeks ago?” “That’s all you’re going to say?” She was flabbergasted. He looked the boy squarely in the eye and said, firmly, “Don’t eat sweets.” Gandhi, who reached out, put his hands on the boy’s shoulders, and pulled him closer. The boy, at the urging and prodding of his mother, disentangled himself from her sari and stepped up to “Come here, child.” He motioned the boy forward. “Yes, of course I remember,” said Gandhi. We came to you for help with this boy and eating sweets, and you asked us to come back after two weeks.” “Mahatma,” said the mother, “we have returned. Two weeks later the woman returned with her child and once again waited in line for hours before finally it was their turn to see the Master. Finally, Gandhi broke the silence and said, “Come back to me in two weeks’ time.” Confused, and a bit disappointed that he could not simply tell her son to stop eating sugar, the mother left with her son. Gandhi looked at the boy for a long moment as he cowered there, trying to hide in his mother’s sari. He’s a good boy, but when it comes to sweets, he becomes a liar and a thief and aĬheat, and I’m afraid it will ruin his life. Every time he has sweets, I see the change in him, and there is nothing I can do to stop him from eating more and more. When at last it was her turn to speak to him, the woman said, “Mahatma, please. Whenever you ask someone to do or be anything, think of Mahatma Gandhi and the story of “The Little Boy and Sweets.” It is such a great example to live up to and delivers an invaluable lesson on the character ofĬoming to see Gandhi, a woman waited in line for more than half a day with her son at her side, in order to have an audience with him.
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