3. LETTER TO LAKSHMIDAS GANDHI
London,
Friday, November 9, 1888respected brother,
I am sorry that there has been no letter from you for the last two or three weeks. Your silence is due perhaps to your not having heard from me. But it was impossible for me to post any letters before I reached London. That you should not have written to me on that account is indeed surprising. As I am far from home we can meet only through letters. And if I do not get letters I feel very much worried. Therefore please drop a post¬ card every week without fail. I would not have been anxious if you did not have my address. But I am sorry that you have stopped writing after having written to me twice. I joined the Inner Temple on Tuesday last. I will write in detail after I hear from you next week. The cold here is now bitter but such bad weather generally docs not last long. In spite of the cold I have no need of meat or liquor. This fills my heart with joy and thankfulness. I am now keeping very good health. Please give my respects to mother and sister-in-law.
Mahatma, Vol. I; also from a photostat of the Gujarati
4. LONDON DIARY[1]
London,
November 12, 1888What led to the intention of proceeding to London? The scene opens about the end of April. Before the intention of coming to London for the sake of study was actually formed, I had a secret design in my mind of coming here to satisfy my
- ↑ When his nephew and co-worker, Chhaganlal Gandhi, was proceeding for the first time to London in 1909, Gandhiji gave him his “London Diary”. The diary filled about 120 pages. Chhaganlal Gandhi gave it to Mahadev Desai in 1920. But, before doing so, he copied out in a notebook about 20 pages of the original. The remaining 100 pages were not continuous writing, but merely a chronicle of incidents during his stay in London from 1888 to 1891. The original being untraceable, Chhaganlal’s copy is reproduced here with minimum editing. Gandhiji wrote the diary in English when he was 19.
