Back home, bad news awaited him. His mother Putlibai had passed away in the meanwhile. It was a matter of extreme grief for Mohandas. She had been the force that was indirectly giving shape to his character and outlook. How he wished her alive to see her satisfied face at seeing her son back having successfully kept the promises made to her. He wept. He asked his family members why he was not informed? No one bothered to offer any explanation. The answer was too clear to be articulated. The elder brother didn’t want to upset him to keep his education on course. Every one knew how close Putlibai and her Monia were. The shock could’ve derailed his studies. May be, the mother herself didn’t want her son informed of her demise to keep him bound to his promises.
On the death of his mother his own words express his grief thus—‘I was very anxious to see the mother. I was not aware of her demise. I didn’t know that the one who would have put me to her bosom on my return was no more in this world. I was not informed. My elder brother wanted to save me from suffering grief in the foreign land. But the grief I suffer now is no less painful. What can I say? The grief that I feel at mother’s death is far more painful than what I suffered at father’s death. All my hopes are dashed…’
It is clear that for Mohandas showing the family members the ‘Bar-at-Law’ degree he had earned was less important than seeing his mother happy at her Monia back unspoiled and true to his promise from the land of vices.
But that was not to be.
The ship of practice on rocks
The elder brother had dreamt of Barrister Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi shining in courts and their home being flooded with money and prosperity. The dream didn’t come true.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi started his practice in Bombay. But his natural shyness, diffidence and timidity returned to haunt his practice.
In the court he would remain tongue tied as if he himself was on trial. He would forget all the arguments out of nervousness. His throat would go dry and the tongue would refuse to speak any intelligible words.
He got a case. The cases were brought in by the brokers on commission basis. Mohandas decided to pay no commission or let any broker put his greedy finger in his practice pie. After all he was London returned Barrister. He hoped his sign board will attract litigants like a drop of honey beacones swarms of flies. A man did hire him to defend his case.
He stood up in the courtroom to put up his defence when the prosecution lawyer invited him to. Suddenly he felt his legs going weak and knees threatening to buckle down. He looked around. A darkness was spreading before his eyes and the courtroom was spinning around like spindle. The rival lawyer looked like a ten headed demon and the judge appeared a white lion snarling down at him.
He sat down saying he was not feeling well. Mohandas advised his client to hire some other lawyer to defend his case.
Now Mohandas realised that he would never be able to act a lawyer. He looked around for another job and read an advertisement for an English teacher. He applied. The interview call came. During the interview it transpired that the organisation wanted a graduate candidate. Mohandas revealed that he had done matriculation from London. The interviewers glossed over it and for them Bar-at-Law degree didn’t matter.
Mohandas could not survive long in Bombay without any adequate income. He was trying austerity. He would go to the court hoping for some miracle to revive his sputtering legal practice. But nothing worked.
He returned to Rajkot.
An office was opened for legal practice there. Now Mohandas didn’t mind doing some quasi-legal jobs like writing applications, drafting affidavits and petitions etc. And he gave up his aversion to brokers since the brokerage payment system had changed. The clients had started paying brokerage directly to the brokers without bringing lawyers in the picture. Now the lawyers could live with it.
Mohandas was managing to earn Rs. 300 a month.
Then, a British friend of Mohandas arrived in India having been appointed the Political Agent of the British government to Porbandar state. At that time the elder brother of Mohandas was working as an advisor to the king of Porbandar. He was accused of misleading the king in some matter. The Political Agent was to decide the case.
The brother wanted Mohandas to intercede using his friendship to get the decision in his favour. Mohandas didn’t want to do it as it went against his conscience. But he had to try for fear of Brother’s anger.
So, he went to meet the Political Agent after seeking appointment. He had hoped that the Agent would greet him in the same old friendly manner. He went in and enthusiastically reminded the Englishman of their relationship in London.
The Political Agent heard him without showing any warmth and emotion. Then he asked very dryly, “Yes, I remember…so?”
His attitude disappointed Mohandas. He felt a chill. But he had to say what he had come for. The Political Agent cut him short by saying bluntly, “You may go.”
He tried to explain his position. The Englishman called in his peon and asked him to show Mr. Mohandas the door. The peon pushed him out of the door.
Mohandas was very upset. He felt gravely insulted.
Back home, he narrated the entire episode to his brother and expressed his wish to file a case against the Englishman for misbehaviour. The brother agreed. But his senior colleagues advised against it.
They said, “It will achieve nothing. You will just be buying trouble. The best way is to forget about it.”
Mohandas knew the advice was sensible. He had to pocket the insult. And he had to admit the fact that his approaching the Agent to seek favour for his brother was a wrong act. But at the same time the Englishman had no right to throw him out of his office for that mistake. It always troubled his mind.
Some Mair tribe people met Mohandas and revealed to him that they were being subjected to unjust levies. But there was nothing anyone could do. Mohandas had seen for himself how arrogant Englishmen had become. Situation was worse in princely states. The kings were arrogant despots. There was no rule of law. The choice before the people was either rebel or continue to be exploited to the bones.
The people were too timid to rise up in revolt. So, continue to suffer was their lot. There was no escape. This helpless situation anguished Mohandas. He felt suffocated in the atmosphere of tyranny jointly created by colonial British and their stooge kings, Nawabs, Ranas, fiefs and the zamindars. He prayed for liberation from this oppressive environment.
Mohandas got a case offer from a merchant of South Africa named Seth Abdullah, a Gujarati immigrant. The case related to some state of South Africa. Seth Abdullah came from Porbandar. He was doing business in South Africa. The message was sent to Mohandas by Karim Seth, the business partner of Seth Abdullah.
The message read—‘Our business is in South Africa. There a legal case concerning us is dragging for a long time. We shall need you for one year. We will pay you 500 Pounds, first class travel and lodging-boarding expenses.’
Infact it was a kind of temporary service offer. But the money was not bad. Barrister Mohandas Gandhi decided to make compromise and become an employee. Anyway as a Barrister he was making no headway.
He was again ready to go abroad. By now he had become father of another child. Mohandas was sad at leaving back his family but there was no alternative. Financial problem was becoming acute.
Shopping Cart