Page:Masani - Gandhi's story.pdf/44



Gandhiji was very happy to be back in India after so many years away from home. He felt that India would need every one of her sons in the struggle for her rights and her freedom. He decided, however, not to take any part in politics at first, but to wait for the right time and opportunity. So he started an Ashram, or abode of rest, on the outskirts of a big industrial city named Ahmedabad near the west coast of India. This Ashram was somewhat like the settlements and farms he had in South Africa. He knew that the greater number of people in India live the simple life of villagers. He thought that if he led the same life he would be near to the people and become one of them. In his Ashram everybody learned to make themselves useful and do things for themselves.

In the Ashram there were no luxuries whatsoever. Here the poor and the rich were treated absolutely alike, and everyone had to work. As on the farms in South Africa, there were also children living in the Ashram and they were taught to work and to spin yarn