Birth And Upbringing :: essays research papers

Birth And UpbringingMOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a small town on the western coast of India, which was so cardinal of the many tiny republics in Kathiawar. He was born in middle class family of Vaishya caste. His grandfather had risen to be the Dewan or height Minister of Porbandar and was succeeded by his son Karamchand who was the father of Mohandas. Putlibai, Mohandass mother, was a saintly character, comfortable and devout, and left a deep impress on her sons mind.Mohandas went to an elementary tame in Porbandar, where he entrap it difficult to master the multiplication tables. "My apprehension must have been sluggish and my memory raw", he recal take with loveliness many years subsequently. He was seven when his family moved to Rajkot, another state in Kathiawar, where his father became Dewan. There he attended a essential school and later joined a high school. Though conscientious he was a "mediocre student" and was excessively shy and timid. go his school record gave no indication of his future greatness, there was one incident which was significant. A British school inspector came to examine the sons and note a spelling test. Mohandas made a mistake which the class instructor noticed. The latter motioned to him to copy the correct spelling from his neighbours slate. Mohandas refused to take the hint and was later chided for his "stupidity".We can also discover in the little boy a hint of that passion for reforming others which later became so dominant a trait of the Mahatma, though in this case the zeal almost led him astray. Impelled by a desire to reform a relay link of his elder brothers, one Sheikh Mehtab, he cultivated his company and imbibed habits which he had to regret later. This friend convinced him that the British could rule India because they lived on means which gave them the necessary strength. So Mohandas who came on orthodox vegetarian family took to tasti ng meat clandestinely, for nationalistic reasons. But apart from the inherited vegetarian sentiment which made him feel, after he had once swallowed a piece, as if "a live goat were bleating in spite of appearance me", he had to wrestle with the knowledge that such clandestine repasts would have to be hidden from his parents which would entail falsehood on his part. This he was reluctant to do. And so after a few such experiments he gave up the idea, consolatory himself with the reflection "When they are no more and I have found my freedom, I will eat meat openly.