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 missed variety in the diet, and that the eye and the sense of taste were very important in eating. “All the meals I have had here have been exactly alike in every detail,” I protested. “I am going to attack you publicly as a cook.”

Just then Jawaharlal Nehru, dressed in white homespun, a beautiful, smiling figure, entered the dining hall. One could immediately see how much everybody loved him. He sat down on the ground next to me and started eating his food with his fingers, Indian-fashion. I could not help thinking back to a meal we took together in one of the fashionable restaurants of Paris.

Nehru had had a short talk with Gandhi before lunch. After a moment, Gandhi turned to me and said that since he wanted to be able to talk to Jawaharlal tomorrow, Monday, he had planned to change his day of silence and, instead of observing it all day Monday, to go into silence at noon today. But since that would have deprived me of my regular hourly interview this afternoon, he would delay the beginning of the silence until 2:40 this after noon and talk to me from 1:30 to 2:30.

After lunch Nehru and I sat on two beds in the guest house where he too was staying and talked about everything on earth for about an hour. In one connection he said, “India contains all that is disgusting and all that is noble. You take your choice.”