Pingale.
A short drive over the muddy country roads brought us to MAGANVADI,
the ashram of India's political saint.
Mr. Desai led us at once to the writing room where, cross-legged,
sat Mahatma Gandhi. Pen in one hand and a scrap of paper in the
other, on his face a vast, winning, warm-hearted smile!
"Welcome!" he scribbled in Hindi; it was a Monday, his weekly day
of silence.
Though this was our first meeting, we beamed on each other
affectionately. In 1925 Mahatma Gandhi had honored the Ranchi school
by a visit, and had inscribed in its guest-book a gracious tribute.
The tiny 100-pound saint radiated physical, mental, and spiritual
health. His soft brown eyes shone with intelligence, sincerity,
and discrimination; this statesman has matched wits and emerged the
victor in a thousand legal, social, and political battles. No other
leader in the world has attained the secure niche in the hearts of
his people that Gandhi occupies for India's unlettered millions.
Their spontaneous tribute is his famous title-MAHATMA, "great
soul." {FN44-1} For them alone Gandhi confines his attire to the
widely-cartooned loincloth, symbol of his oneness with the downtrodden
masses who can afford no more.
[Illustration: MAHATMA GANDHI, I enjoy a quiet lunch with India's
political saint at his hermitage in Wardha, August, 1935.--see
gandhi.jpg]
"The ashram residents are wholly at your disposal; please call on
them for any service.
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