Little Mohandas had once perched himself on a tree. One of his elder brothers pulled him down. Mohandas protested. Thereupon his brother beat him. Mohandas warmed up but did not retaliate; he went straight to his mother and complained that he was beaten.
"Why did you not hit him back?" questioned his mother.
"Mother, dear, how can you ask me that? I cannot hit back because he is older than I. Instead of telling him not to beat me, you are asking me why I did not hit him back," he feelingly replied.
His mother wondered how this young boy got such an idea.
The seed of ahimsa which he was to germinate in later years was embedded in him at such a young age!
As a young boy of seven, he began to study the alphabet in a village school by writing it down in the sand with his fingers. This school was called the Dhooli Shala ("Dust School") where an old-fashioned teacher taught him.
One of his companions once tried to steal images from a nearby temple but when chased by the priest, he threw them into the compound of another temple and ran away. Thereupon the priest went to the father of the culprit and complained. The boy denied the act but when young Mohan was called he told the truth. Gandhi thereupon began to be known as the boy with truth on his lips and so unfit to take part in any escapades. Further whenever games were played between Muslim and Hindu boys, he was usually chosen as umpire, as his verdict was always right. This was the name he earned while he was yet young.
Once an English inspector of education came to his school and gave a dictation of five words. One of the words was 'Kettle.' Gandhi did not spell this word correctly. So his teacher who was standing by signaled him to copy it from the boy next to him. He refused to copy. He could hardly believe that the teacher would himself prompt a boy to do it. The incident did not in the least diminish his respect for his teacher because he was by nature blind to the faults of others.
He was a model scholar and enjoyed the affection of his teacher. Certificates of progress and character used to be sent to his parents and he never received a bad certificate. In the V and VI standards, he had obtained scholarships. Here are some of his childhood memories.
"I jealously guarded my character. The least little blemish drew tears from my eyes… When I merited, or seemed to the teacher to merit, a rebuke, it was unbearable for me. I remember having once received corporal punishment. I wept bitterly… I do not remember having told a lie." - M. Gandhi
As a boy he disliked gymnastics, cricket, or football and never took part in them until they were made compulsory for the upper standards. "My shyness was one of the reasons for the aloofness", he confessed. But he took advantage of the free time to attend on his sick father. In later years he was a good cricketeer too. He excelled both in bowling and batting. He also played card games at home, his favorite being besique.
He was barely twelve years old, when an incident ignited in him the first spark of revolt against untouchability.
There was a scavenger in Gandhi's house named Uka, an untouchable by caste. Gandhi's mother, a deeply religious woman, would often nervously warn her boy against touching Uka, even accidentally. If he played with Uka or brush against him in a boyish prank she would make him bathe. Once she admonished him very severely and led him to a well and poured water on his head. "Oh, mother dear, he is not dirty. He is like my brother and why all this fuss?" he cried. "My dear boy" she replied "touching him is pollution. You must bathe every time to become clean. Otherwise, you remain a sinner."
This was too much for the boy Gandhi. He saw no reason in her argument.
But, for Gandhi, the seed of the Harijan Movement of his tumultuous later years for the abolition of the caste system was sown in those tender boyhood days.
While at school, he began to feel that India was being subjected to indignities by the ruling nation – the British. The real reason he did not know, but one of his close friends suggested to him that the British ruled India because they were meat eaters.
This made him think, for he was a strict vegetarian.
"I wish to be strong and daring. I want my countrymen also to be such, so that we might defeat the British and make India free" he thought within himself, and for this cause he took to eating meat. The first day, he chewed and chewed and swallowed it.
A doggeral of a Gujarati poet was current among the schoolboys as follows: "Behold the mighty Englishman He rules the Indian soil, Because being a meat eater, He is five meters tall"
Later that night, a horrible nightmare haunted him when he slept - he felt as if a live goat were bleating in his stomach.
He gradually and courageously learnt to relish meat dishes for his country. This went on for more than a year, and he would often forgo his meals at home telling his mother that he had no appetite and that something was wrong with his digestion.
One day however, he seriously asked himself whether he was justified in his act of dissimulation.
"I am lying, and to my mother at that" he said to himself.
This lying was unbearable.
His conscience gave him no rest as he wanted to stick to Truth.
He felt that even though eating meat was essential to reform the country, lying was a crime. As a result of this self enquiry he decided not to eat meat thereafter. In later years he lived through and through for Truth.
Another boy taught him to smoke. When this habit of smoking developed he began to purchase cigarettes and smoke regularly. By smoking, he felt wonderfully smart.
His elder brother was in debt, which Gandhi wanted to clear. Gandhi's brother had an amulet made of solid gold. Mohan chipped a bit of it, sold it and paid off his brother's debt. His mother became aware of this. His heart was heavy with remorse. He had stolen! He was a thief! He wanted to get the weight off his chest by confessing it to his father who was lying ill.
He wrote a letter and handed it to him standing with folded hands and asked for his forgiveness, promising never to steal again.
He trembled when he handed the letter of confession. His father read it but did not rebuke him. Tears trickled down his father's cheeks for a moment he closed his eyes and then tore the letter. Gandhi could see his father's agony. He too wept with him. He felt sincerely that he was silently forgiven. "Only he who has experienced such love can know what it is" he wrote.
"This was for me an object lesson in Ahimsa" he reminisced later.
"This such is the power of confession."
On certain occasions he would go to the kitchen for a meal before leaving for school. His sister-in-law would sometimes be busy and the food, therefore, would not be ready. Rather than go late to school, he would quietly eat the overnight food and rush off with his books to school to be punctual.
When his old father fell ill, it was Mohandas and his mother who nursed him day and night. In his last days, when one asked Gandhi's father who would take his place, the reply was "Manu (Mohandas) will do honour to the family name."