Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/248

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158
JAIL EXPERIENCES

Again the three Chinese used to get other articles instead of rice, and hence annoyance was felt, as there was an appearance of their being considered separate from and inferior to us. For this reason, I applied, on their behalf, to the Governor and to Mr. Playford, and it was ordered that they should be placed on the same level as Indians.

It is instructive to compare this dietary with that of the Europeans. They get for their morning breakfast "pap" and 8 oz. of bread; for the midday meal, bread and soup or bread and meat, or bread and meat and potatoes or vegetables; and in the evenings bread and "pap." Thus they got bread thrice in the day, and so they do not care whether they have the "pap" or not. Again they get meat or soup, in addition. Besides this they are often given tea or cocoa. This will show that both the Europeans and the native Kaffirs get food suitable to them, and it is the poor Indians alone who suffer. They had no special dietary of their own. It they were treated like Europeans in food, they the Europeans would have felt ashamed, and no one had the concern to find out what was the food of the Indian. They had thus to be ranked with the Kaffirs and silently starve. For this state of circumstances I find fault with our own people, the Passive Resisters. Some Indians got the requisite food by stealth, others put up with whatever they got, and were either ashamed to make public the story of their distress or had no thought for others. Hence the outside public remained in the dark. If we were to follow truth and agitate where we got injustice, there would be no room to undergo such inconveniences. If we were to leave self and apply ourselves to the good of others, grievances would get remedied soon. But just as it is