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A Barrister in South Africa, Phase I At the age of eighteen, in the spring of his youth and in the spring of 1888, Gandhi had gone to London to fulfill his father’s dream as well as his own of becoming a barrister. When he returned home at the age of twenty-two in the summer of 1891, he had already become what the Indians proudly called a “London-returned Barrister.” The bar-at-law degree from England not only raised Mohandas Gandhi’s status among the educated elite circles but also brought pride and prestige to the Gandhi family. Kaba Gandhi’s favorite son, “Manu,” had fulfilled his father’s last wish; like the devoted son Shravana, he had paid off his final filial debt or to put it in Indian terms, he had offered his true pitru-shra -ddh. The London experience greatly contributed to Gandhi’s social, intellectual , and religious growth, the latter of which had a particularly lasting impact. Because of his Western cultural exposure, Gandhi’s vision had widened, his confidence improved, and his English perfected. Yet somehow , the young barrister seemed to be more anxious than excited about going home. Several fears, anxieties, and uncertainties dampened Gandhi’s enthusiasm and marred the joy of reuniting with his family and friends after three years. His apprehensions may have foretold some of the grim prospects ahead. The first news he received upon landing ashore was that of his beloved mother’s death, which his family had purposely kept from him until he returned home. Gandhi admitted in his autobiography that although the news was “a severe shock” to him, and though his grief was even greater than over his father’s death, he did not give himself up to “any wild 7 91 expression of grief” (1948, 112). The reason for this was that Gandhi never felt his mother had died; she was living in him as his “internalized strength,” as Erikson (1969) put it. Ever since he was Putliba’s little Moniya, Gandhi had adored his mother for her cheerful piety and her ascetic self-control; he endeavored to be “as flawless as his mother.” Now that Putliba was gone, Gandhi identified with her so deeply that although he was called a Bapu (father), he became softer, kinder, more loving and nurturing like a Ba (mother). “This maternal side of Bapu attracted particular types of followers and inspired particular trends in the masses,” said Erikson; “almost as though he had provided in his own person a new matrix, had become India herself” (1969, 157). The second initial impediment to his happy resettlement in India was his persistent persecution by the Modh Bania caste elders. With a revengeful hostility, they compelled him to go through certain expiating rituals for having committed the sin of going overseas. Although he acquiesced to their demand for his family’s sake, he was not the least penitent. The third factor to dampen his spirits was the persistent problem of his marital disharmony. As Gandhi confessed in his autobiography, “My relations with my wife were still not as I desired. Even my stay in England had not cured me of jealousy” (1948, 116). Gandhi blamed not Kasturbai, but himself for his “squeamishness and suspiciousness” which still continued. But the worst, according to him, was his lust, which came in the way of his efforts to educate her. Toward the latter half of his stay in India and before his departure to South Africa, however, their relationship showed some improvement. They became closer while working together on some of the “home reforms” that also involved their two sons.1 The London-returned barrister had imported from the West what he called “reforms,” which affected the lifestyle of the whole Gandhi family. The first changes pertained to food and the style of eating. Tea and coffee were now replaced by oatmeal porridge and cocoa, and brass plates by China crockery. Instead of sitting on the floor Indian-style, everyone ate at the dining table, and they ate with forks and knives instead of their fingers. Gandhi also insisted that everyone in his family dress formally in Europeanstyle clothes with socks, shoes, boots, and all. Most of all, Gandhi enjoyed teaching his little ones various physical exercises that he had learned in England; he also loved playing and joking with them—a habit that stayed with him until the very end. Children enjoyed Bapu as much as Bapu enjoyed their company. 92 Gandhi...

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