It was the 30th January, 1948. Gandhi woke up earlier than usual, prayed and did some work which had been unfinished on the previous night.
He did not feel well enough for the usual morning walk. He was delaying it. He paced up and down in his room for a while. In the meanwhile Manu also had not come and joined him for his constitutional. She was preparing the cough powder required for the night. When Gandhi asked "why the delay?" she replied that she was preparing the cough powder for him "as otherwise, there will be nothing at night when it is needed."
"Who knows what is going to happen before nightfall or even whether I shall be alive? If I am alive at night, you shall prepare it, then. Come along", Gandhi retorted.
Only two days before when he felt desperate about the Noakhali disturbances, he said:
"I do not want to die a discredited or defeated man; I do not want to die by inches, as a paralytic, for example. An assassin's knife may put an end to my life but what I would welcome is that I shall breathe my last even in the midst of work."
Only a few days before that day, an attempt on Gandhi's life was made through a bomb explosion. From that day, all were anxious about the security of Gandhi's precious life. Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur was questioning him, morning and evening, whether there was anything of that kind. Gandhi, realising her anxiety, said "Should I infer from your daily questionings that you are feeling anxious for me? If I have to die by the shot of a man, I should die laughing. I wish that there may be no anger in me at that and may God be in my heart and on my lips, then."
On that day Gandhi had a severe fit of coughing. He was already weak and it was such a convulsive cough that people around him were alarmed. All feared his collapse. Apprehending their fears, Gandhi gave out his mind.
"If I were to die of a lingering illness, proclaim to the world that I am not the man of God I claim to be. If some one were to end my life by putting a bullet through me, as someone tried to do with a bomb the other day, and I met his bullet without a groan, and breathed my last, taking God's name, then and then alone, would I have made good my claim."
Strangely he died by bullet wounds, with the words "Hey Rama, Hey Rama" on his lips and with no anger on his face.
After the fast at Poona there was a possibility of his death by fasting and "such a death would have been a glorious death for any man" said Shri Anand Hingorani. In reply, the Mahatma said,
"Nonsense, you consider that a glorious death, dying by fasting? I do not know where is the glory in it. But do you know, it is written in my 'horoscope' that I have to die a heroic death? My death is to come either on the gallows or by shooting and that would be heroic."
On his way to the prayer ground at about 5:10 p.m. on the fateful day, his attendants informed Gandhi that some workers from Kathiawad had asked for an appointment.
"Tell them to come after prayers, I shall see them, if I am alive."
So saying Gandhi walked swiftly to the prayer ground with his hands on the shoulders of Manu and Abha.
How prophetic he was about his fast approaching hour! Only about ten days before the day of his martyrdom, a correspondent of the Baltimore Sun had interviewed him. He said to him "I have no longer plans. I may hold a prayer meeting tonight, but I may not be alive." This article won the Pulitzer Prize.