GANDHI RESTLESS AS MERCURY (HB)

M. K. Gandhi?s autobiography,
the story of My experiments with truth, is famously incomplete, stopping
abruptly in 1920. But while he gave up writing his memoirs, Gandhi continued
to speak and write about his life, family, work, colleagues, those who opposed
and Venerated him, his hopes, anxieties, challenges, fasts, many jail stints,
his Enthusiasms, and disappointments. When knitted together, these
autobiographical observations, scattered over several pages of the collected
works of Mahatma Gandhi, as well as in some works that were published in his
lifetime under his gaze, make for a gripping and powerful story. ?Restless as
Mercury?, is how his only sister, raliyat, described the young Mohandas and
her stunningly accurate characterization of her brother provides the title of
this work, which Gopalkrishna Gandhi has reconstructed from Gandhian own
words. The account is divided into six sections: book I starts with Gandhi?s
birth in 1869 and focuses on his early years in Gujarat, his schooling, immediate
family, and marriage to Kasturba. In book II, we see him away from his home
and family in a new environment?england?where he goes to study law. He
continues his commitment to vegetarianism and engages in a brief flirtation
with becoming an English gentleman. He then makes a quick visit home to
Rajkot before going to South Africa to practise law. There, he experiences
racial prejudice and struggles to balance the demands of home and public
life. In book III, we see Gandhi being drawn into two Wars in South
Africa?The anglo?boer war (1899?1902) and the bambatha rebellion (1906). he
sets up the ambulance Corps with other Indians, becomes politically engaged,
and starts fighting for the rights of Indians in South Africa. It is during
this period that he starts his journal, Indian opinion, and his first ashram
in durban?the Phoenix settlement. As his ethics and values firm up, he finds
himself in a battle at home with his wife, Kasturba. In book IV, as Gandhian
politics come under assault by all three major sections of South African
population?the ruling European, the majority African, and the minority
asian?his belief in non-violent struggle becomes stronger and his idea of
satyagraha comes to the fore. He begins courting imprisonment and encourages
his friends, family, and fellow Indians to do so as well. In book V we see
that his deep and constantly renewed bonds with the family have to reckon
with his commitment to the larger cause. It is in this period that Gandhi
sets up Tolstoy farm for the families of the satyagrahis. Book VI sees him
leading disciplined mass movements the likes of which have not been seen
before. When all the demands of the South African satyagraha are conceded,
Gandhi decides the time has come for him to return to India. Accompanied by
Kasturba, he leaves South Africa for India in 1914 for the great appointment
with history that awaits him in the motherland. Restless as Mercury is a
candid and unflinching account of the struggles, experiences, and
philosophies that informed and influenced the young Mohandas. It also shows
how Gandhi kept, not without Stumbling, his love of family in step with his
sense of his public duties.