35. King Alfred |
Gandhiji always insisted that everyone should
learn the language spoken in the neighbouring region. When I was appointed
in the Ashram School, Gandhiji included Marathi in the school syllabus along
with Gujarati, Hindi and Sanskrit. Once he told me, “I learned Tamil in
South Africa so that I could serve the ‘Girmits’. How can we do without
knowing Marathi, here in Bombay region?” He got the opportunity to learn
Marathi in Yerawada jail. He asked me to help him. We got a few textbooks
from the library for the general prisoners. We started with them. Bapu used
to read and I would explain the meaning. Whenever he fumbled, he would
immediately ask the meaning. He would allot a few minutes for Marathi,
everyday. Once in a lesson, a poem by Ramdas from ‘Dasbodh’ had a few lines
about handwriting. Bapuji loved them. He wrote them and read them many a
times. He asked the meaning whenever he couldn’t grasp; yet it did not
satisfy him. At last he wrote down the complete lesson and sent it to the
weekly of his Ashram. He instructed that all the inmates of the Ashram
should read it seriously. His own handwriting was not at all good. That is
why he cared for good handwriting. While learning Marathi he came across a
lesson named ‘Alfred the Great’. After loosing a battle, this King of
England was leading the life of a recluse, with an old woman. Once, the old
woman asked him to bake bread. While doing it he became so engrossed in his
thoughts that the bread was burned. The old woman reproached him for that.
We read the lesson together. After that whenever I committed a mistake or
forgot something, Bapuji would call me ‘King Alfred’.
|