E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesAccess to the stage from the well of the theatre was by a short flight of woodensteps. A speaker would mount to the top step, leave his or her sandals thereand walk barefoot to the microphone.During the deliberations, a woman came to the stage from behind the scenesand put a flat box on the divan. Shortly after, Gandhi walked on, sat down onthe divan, opened the box and started spinning. His entrance was applaudedbriefly by the standing delegates. He acknowledged their welcome with asmile. It is considered undignified to make too much noise with handclapping orexclamations.The second day, Sunday, July 7, Gandhi, in loincloth, addressed the Committeefrom a sitting position on the white divan. He spoke Hindustani into amicrophone but the mechanism was defective and he was barely audible.The speech, delivered extemporaneously, was published verbatim in Harijanand all Indian dailies. It consisted of about 1700 wards and he pronounced themslowly, in approximately fifteen minutes, as though he were talking to oneperson in his hut.He said:'I have been told that some of my previous remarks about the Cabinet Mission'sproposals have caused a good deal of confusion in the public mind. As aSatyagrahi it is always my endeavour to speak the whole truth and nothing butthe truth. I never have a wish to hide anything from you. I hate mentalreservations. But language is at best an imperfect medium of expression. Noman can express fully in words what he feels or thinks. Even seers and prophetsof old have suffered under that disability....'I did say in one of my speeches at Delhi in regard to the Cabinet Mission'sproposals that I saw darkness where I saw light before. That darkness has notyet lifted. If possible it has deepened. I could have asked the WorkingCommittee to turn down the proposal about the Constituent Assembly if I couldsee my way clearly. You know my relations with the members of the WorkingCommittee. Babu Rajendra Prasad might have been a High Court Judge, but hewww.mkgandhi.org Page 488