He spoke English with an Irish accent, for one of his first teachers was an Irishman. He was educated at London University and became an attorney. But the first time he attempted to make a speech in court, his knees trembled, and he was so frightened that he had to sit down in confusion and defeat. As a lawyer in London, he got nowhere at all. He waspractically a failure there.
However, despite this worldly success he was not happy. On seeing the untold misery of millions of his fellow countrymen; on seeing thousand of them dying of starvation; the worldly success seemed cheap and unimportant to him. He gave up all his money and ‘took the vow of poverty, and since that time, he consecrated his life to helping the poor and the downtrodden.
He experimented with diets to see how cheaply he could live and remain healthy. He started living principally on fruit and goats’ milk and olive oil. He had been greatly influenced by the teachings of an American by the name of David Thoreau.
He never visited the US, but he had many American fans and followers. One of his more unusual admirers was Henry Ford.
He inspired millions of people world over to take the path of non-violence and civil disobedience. Though inspiring 5 world leaders who got Noble Peace prize viz. Martin Luther King Jr. (USA), Dalai Lama (Tibet), Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar), Nelson Mandela (S. Africa) and Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Argentina), he never got a Noble Prize himself !
Click here to find out who's shoes these are and read a cute fact about his shoes. http://www.author-me.com/fict06/gandhisshoes.htm
What did you think about walking in these shoes?