Shankarlalbhai used to wash Gandhiji’s clothes
in Yerwada Jail. Once Gandhiji told him, “Don’t wash my clothes. I will wash
them myself.” Shankarlalbhai thought that he might not have washed them
properly, so he asked him about it. Gandhiji said, “You wash them properly.
But I feel that soap is being used extravagantly. I would use this much soap
for many more days.”
Shankarlalbhai assured him, “Now I would use
it thriftily.” He used to think that although more soap was used but the
clothes were washed quite clean. Now he had come to know how to be thrifty.
One morning, Gandhiji said to him, “Shankarlal, don’t light the stove. Don’t
heat the water.” “Why?” Shankarlal asked. Gandhiji told him, “The petromax
is lit all night long. I think that we can put a pot of water on it so that
it will be warmed till morning.” The experiment was successful. Gandhiji got
warm water to drink. Shankarlal felt sorry. He thought Gandhiji was doing
this to save him the trouble of lighting the stove. He said, “Perhaps you
are not satisfied with me.” Gandhiji replied, “No, you were doing your job
perfectly, but this is an experiment. We tried to heat water on petromax and
were successful. We were able to save some coal. No need to be sorry about
it!”