As his ship steamed into Bombay harbor, Gandhi saw his
brother waiting at the quayside. He ran down the gangway to meet him. As they
exchanged greetings, Mohandas noticed that his brother looked sad.
“You have bad news for me?” he asked.
“Yes,” his brother replied with tears in his eyes. “We did
not want to disturb you during your examinations. Our dear mother… she died a
few weeks back.”
Mohandas was shocked. His mother had meant so much to him. He
had come back to tell her that he had kept the promises he had made before he
went abroad, but now she was no more. What a sad homecoming!
At Rajkot, he set up practice as a barrister. Soon, however,
he was disgusted with the greed and pettiness that he found among the lawyers.
Gandhi realized that it was difficult for the poor and the humble to get
justice from the courts of law. He was not happy with his life at Rajkot and he
longed to get away.
It was then that an offer came to him, to go to South Africa
on behalf of Dada Abdulla & co., an Indian firm which owned big business
concerns there. The company had filed a suit against another firm for $4000.
They wanted Gandhi to
take up the case because he spoke English well and knew English Law. In
addition to arguing their case, they wanted him to handle the firm’s
correspondence, in English. His services were required for one year and the
company promised to pay him a handsome fee and first –class return fare. The
opportunity to see a new country and new people excited Gandhi and he accepted
the offer.
It was painful for him to be parted from Kasturbai again so
soon, but he was determined to go. In April 1893 he left Bombay for South
Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment