E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & Timesbreakfast—tea, biscuits or bread with honey and butter and mango—to the mudwalledbamboo-roofed guest hut where I lived.At lunch on the second day, Gandhi handed me a tablespoon for the vegetabledish. He said the tablespoon was more commensurate with my size. He offeredme a boiled onion from his pot. I asked for a raw one instead; it was a relieffrom the flat food of the menu.At lunch on the third day, Gandhi said, 'Fischer, give me your bowl and I willgive you some of the vegetables.' I said I had eaten the mess of spinach andsquash four times in two days and had no desire for more.You don't like vegetables,' he commented.'I don't like the taste of these vegetables three days running.''Ah,' he exclaimed, 'you must add plenty of salt and lemon'."You want me to kill the taste,' I interpreted.'No,' he laughed, 'enrich the taste.'"You are so non-violent you would not even kill a taste,' I said.'If that were the only thing men killed. I wouldn't mind,' he remarked.I wiped the perspiration from my face and neck. 'Next time I'm in India...'Gandhi was chewing and seemed not to have heard me so I stopped.'Yes', he said, 'the next time you are in India...'"You either ought to have air-conditioning in Sevagram or live in the Viceroy'spalace.''All right,' Gandhi acquiesced.He encouraged banter. One afternoon when I came to his hut for the dailyinterview, he was not there. When he arrived he lay down on his bed. 'I willtake your blows lying down, he said, inviting questions. A Moslem woman gavehim a mud pack for his abdomen. This puts me in touch with my future,' hesaid. I did not comment.'I see you missed that one,' he noted.www.mkgandhi.org Page 419