Our Bapu - Mahatma Gandhi

Our Bapu
He saw that fashionable people in England wore top hats, and he too wanted to
buy one. So one day he walked into a hat shop, but being very shy, he bought
the first top hat that caught his eye, without even trying it on. When he came
home and tried it, he found that the hat was too big for him. Luckily, his large
ears prevented the hat from slipping down and covering his eyes."
"How funny he must have looked with his huge hat covering his small face! I
wish I was there, mother. I would have taken a snap of him."
"I am quite sure, too, he must have looked very funny. Most Indian boys, when
they get to England spend money quite freely. Mohandas was no exception. He
learned to dance and play on the violin; he went to the finest tailoring shops
and had some very expensive suits made; he even bought a gold watch for
himself. In short, he spent money as he had never done before. He had,
however, one very good habit; he would keep an account of every penny that
he spent. And one day it occurred to him that if he continued to waste his time
and money in idle pleasures, he would never be able to study, and surely he
could not expect his brother to be sending him money indefinitely. He at once
took out his account-book and carefully examined it. He marked those items
which appeared to him useless and unnecessary, and made up his mind not to
spend money on them again. He gave up his two-roomed flat and moved into a
small room. He learnt to cook cheap and wholesome meals for himself and even
avoided traveling by bus whenever he could.
Along with his legal studies, he read books about the world's great religions. As
a child he had seen Jains, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians
coming to his father and having long discussions about religion. He would sit
quietly and listen to these talks with attention, and he had thus learnt to
respect all religions. Quite early in his life he had come to the conclusion that
being good was the basis of all religions, and that no man could be good unless
he was truthful.
It was in England too that he began to take a keen interest in nursing the sick.
With the help of a doctor friend he even learnt to nurse those suffering from
leprosy, and within a short while he acquired very great skill in this work."
www.mkgandhi.org Page 19