Birth And Upbringing :: essays research papers

Birth And UpbringingMOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI was born(p) on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a small town on the western beach of India, which was then one of the many tiny states in Kathiawar. He was born in middle build family of Vai uncertaina caste. His grandfather had risen to be the Dewan or Prime Minister of Porbandar and was succeeded by his son Karamchand who was the father of Mohandas. Putlibai, Mohandass mother, was a seraphic character, gentle and devout, and left a deep impress on her sons mind.Mohandas went to an unsophisticated school in Porbandar, where he found it difficult to master the generation tables. "My intellect must shake been sluggish and my memory raw", he recalled with candour many years later. He was seven when his family moved to Rajkot, some other state in Kathiawar, where his father became Dewan. There he attended a primary school and later joined a high school. though conscientious he was a "mediocre student" and was excessiv ely shy and timid.While his school record gave no indication of his future greatness, thither was one incident which was significant. A British school inspector came to show the boys and set a spelling test. Mohandas made a mistake which the class teacher noticed. The latter motioned to him to copy the correct spelling from his neighbours slate. Mohandas refused to take the lead story and was later chided for his "stupidity".We can also discover in the microscopic boy a hint of that passion for reforming others which later became so preponderating a trait of the Mahatma, though in this case the zeal approximately led him astray. Impelled by a desire to reform a friend of his elder brothers, one Sheikh Mehtab, he cultivated his troupe and imbibed habits which he had to regret later. This friend convinced him that the British could rule India because they lived on nerve centre which gave them the necessary strength. So Mohandas who came on orthodox vegetarian family took to tasting meat clandestinely, for patriotic reasons. But apart from the inherited vegetarian sentiment which made him feel, afterwards he had once swallowed a piece, as if "a live tush were bleating inside me", he had to wrestle with the knowledge that such clandestine repasts would draw to be hidden from his parents which would entail falsehood on his part. This he was averse to do. And so after a few such experiments he gave up the idea, consoling himself with the reflection "When they are no more and I have found my freedom, I will eat meat openly.